ErudiFi raised Helicap led US $15 M debt funding to provide students with economical tuition payment plans
ErudiFi, a Southeast Asian business that provides tech-enabled school finance solutions, has obtained a US $15 million lending facility from Helicap, a Singapore-based fintech firm.
The money will be used to help students in the Philippines and Indonesia by providing them with reasonable tuition payment plans.
In February 2021, ErudiFi received $5 million in Series A funding from Monk’s Hill Ventures and Qualgro, which was co-led by Monk’s Hill Ventures and Qualgro.
ErudiFi, which was founded in 2018, works with top universities and vocational institutions to assist students acquire funding for further study. In Indonesia, it goes by the name Danacita, while in the Philippines, it’s known as Bukas.
“Our partnership with Helicap enables us to further our mission of expanding access to education in Southeast Asia. The need for an affordable financing solution is greater than ever, with the ongoing pandemic leading to an increasing number of Filipino and Indonesian youths deferring further studies due to financial constraints,” said Naga Tan, CEO, and Co-Founder of ErudiFi.
ErudiFi claims to have served over 12,000 students and collaborated with more than a hundred educational institutions in Indonesia and the Philippines as of December 2021.
David Z. Wang, Co-Founder and CEO of Helicap (the parent company of Helicap Investments and Helicap Securities), said: “Education financing is a huge opportunity in Southeast Asia, and ErudiFi continues to shape and expand its trusted relationships with universities and partner institutions.”
Helicap has arranged over US $100 million in investments to expand access to credit for Southeast Asia’s underbanked populations since 2018. Helicap Investments, a signatory to the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), utilises its own credit analytics technology to create high-impact investments and close Southeast Asia’s $500 billion funding gap.
According to HolonIQ, Southeast Asia’s edutech sector is booming, with the area raising a total of $480 million in funding for educational technology businesses in the previous five years.
Many edutech firms in Southeast Asia are working to close the educational gap by improving the quality or access to education, such as Topica (Vietnam), Taamkru (Thailand), Ruangguru (Indonesia), and Classruum (Malaysia).
