Exclusive: The Munich-based financial start-up Lendorse, which specializes in student loans, has secured a new line of debt capital. When granting loans, the provider relies on a model comparable to “buy now, pay later”.
“Hardly anyone wants KfW student loans anymore,” wrote the Handelsblatt last year. The reason: The state-owned development bank charges high interest rates, currently around 7.5 percent – too much in the view of many new students. The number of student loans has been declining for years. In 2023, for example, only a good 16,500 new contracts were signed, more than 70 percent less than ten years ago.
The Munich-based financial start-up Lendorse is positioning itself as an alternative to the KfW student loan. It is aimed primarily at foreign students who are rejected by many providers – out of concern that it will be difficult to collect potential loan debts abroad. Lendorse relies on a “study now, pay later” model: students pay back their loan in proportion to their salary after entering professional life.
Rapid expansion with new resources
In order to accelerate its growth, the startup has now secured ten million euros. This is a debt capital line provided by the Swiss i2 Group. Lendorse now wants to use the funds to issue further student loans. According to its own information, Lendorse has so far issued loans totaling 200,000 euros to a good two dozen students.
A still low number, but according to Lendorse co-founder Björn Wolf, there are reasons for this. When the financial startup launched two years ago, they initially wanted to test the model on a small scale. With the new line of debt, the business will now be expanded quickly, says Wolf. The former McKinsey consultant founded the startup together with Evgenii Avdeev, who was temporarily employed by the major Russian bank Sberbank. The early-stage investors Techstars, Vealo Ventures and Earlybird Vision Lab are among those involved in Lendorse.
