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NEW DELHI: Study-abroad platform Leverage, which operates LeverageEdu.com, UniValley.com, UniConnect, among others, on Monday announced its foray into financial services.
As parti of this, the company is launching three different services: international remittances, education loans, and international bank accounts.
Akshay Chaturvedi, founder and CEO, Leverage, said, "Topmost focus area for us is remittances right now, it's got a great product-market fit with the student journey, and has grown a full 100% month-on-month ever since it’s pilot 3 months back. That gave us the confidence to apply for an FFMC license,".
The company said it has been in discussions with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the last of couple of months, which has been extremely supportive, and is hoping to receive the licence in the next few weeks.
“We have a different approach on education loans, and are at the moment only aiming to facilitate the lowest possible interest rate to be able to complete the loop for students - that gives us a chance to work with leading public sector banks and undercut the market massively, being able to give out the best interest rates," Chaturvedi said.
In a pilot for its students in the last intake, it processed loans worth over ₹75 crore, and is aiming for a ₹1,000 crore loan book in the next six months. Today, it has an API-level relationship with multiple banks, and gives them access to an additional app built on the Leverage Student Dashboard.
“Leverage Edu stands for trust, and that takes precedence over all else for us. We had a record 18% referral in the September intake. Students trust us to help with the right country, right programme, and how they lead into the right-fit employment outcomes right from step zero," Akshay added.
Leverage Finance is being built by Rachit Juneja, who has previously worked with Constellation Blu (Blume Ventures’ partner firm), & KPMG in its financial services division. The team has a headcount of over 30 right now, and is looking to hire 60-70 more people in the next quarter across several roles.
The company has also facilitated opening of over 500 bank accounts over the last 1-2 months, primarily of students heading to study in the UK and Canada. These are done in partnership with destination-country banks, and the entire process is completed in India before the student flies out.
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