StudentFinance

About StudentFinance

StudentFinance was founded in 2019 by Mariano Kostelec, Marta Palmeiro, Sergio Pereira, and Miguel Santo Amaro. The founding team brought with them a wealth of experience in the student market, having previously founded Uniplaces, the largest student accommodation platform in Europe. Their journey with Uniplaces provided them with insights into the challenges students face, which directly informed the creation of StudentFinance.

Operating in Spain, Portugal, and the UK, StudentFinance is a career mobility platform that addresses the skills gap by financing education for students looking to upskill in high-demand sectors such as technology, engineering, and artificial intelligence. The company partners with schools and universities to offer an alternative to traditional student loans.

The core of their business model is the Income Share Agreement (ISA). Through an ISA, the company covers the tuition fees for students. In return, graduates pay a fixed percentage of their income back to StudentFinance for a set period of time, but only once they have secured a job with an income above a certain threshold. This model aligns the incentives of the student, the educational institution, and StudentFinance, as all parties are invested in the student's successful employment outcome. The company utilizes an AI-powered platform to assess the future employability of applicants, moving beyond traditional credit scores.