This article offers more information about part three of my annual review of the year-in-ed-tech. Here are some of the details about who’s investing in student loan and financial aid startups.
Investments in Loan Startups
Credible raised $10 million in Series B funding in January from Carthona Capital, Ron Suber, and Regal Funds Management. (Suber is the President of the loan company Prosper Marketplace.) The company has raised $24.3 million total.
SoFI raised $500 million in Series F funding in February from Silver Lake, SoftBank, and GPI Capital. The company has raised $2.1 billion total.
MPOWER Financing raised two rounds of funding: one for an undisclosed amount in March and $500,000 in June. Investors include VilCap Investments, VARIV Capital, Chilango Ventures, and 1776. The company has raised $10.5 million total.
College Ave raised $30 million Series D round in April. Investors included Comcast Ventures and Leading Edge Ventures. The company has raised $63.4 million total.
Prodigy Finance raised $40 million in August. It also raised $200 million in debt financing, bring the total raised to $340 million. Investors in the Series C round were Index Ventures, AlphaCode Club, and Balderton Capital.
Tuition.io raised $7 million in Series B funding in September. Investors in that round: Wildcat Venture Partners, MassMutual Ventures, and Mohr Davidow Ventures. Tuition.io has raised $15.15 million total.
Varthana raised a $3 million Series C round in October. The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation was the investor. The company has raised $21.43 million total.
Investments in Income-Sharing Startups
Vemo Education raised $7.4 million in September from University Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, Route 66 Ventures, Third Kind Venture Capital, Haystack Partners, and Task Force X Capital. It has raised $9.4 million total.
Investments in Financial Aid Management Startups
Regent Education raised $8.5 million in March from New Markets Venture Partners, Chrysalis Ventures, and Ares Capital Corporation. The company has raised $37.75 million total.
CampusLogic raised $10 million in March from 4.0 Partners. It has raised $17.75 million total.
Raise.me raised $12 million in March from Redpoint, GSV Acceleration, Owl Ventures, and SJF Ventures. It has raised $16.5 million total.
Acquisitions
In January, SoFi acquired Zenbanx, “allowing it to be more like a bank,” as The New York Times put it.
In February, financial aid startup CampusLogic acquired Cegment.
In April, Blackbaud acquired the scholarship management company AcademicWorks.
In October, the student loan giant Navient acquired Earnest for $155 million.
In October, Nelnet acquired its competitors Great Lakes Educational Loan Services for $150 million.