Investment Plan for Europe in Spain: supporting students to invest into skills and education

• StudentFinance receives EU backing to provide financing to students by investing in education and training via Income Sharing Agreements (ISAs)
• The agreement is backed by the EFSI Skills & Education Guarantee Pilot

The European Investment Fund (EIF) signed a guarantee agreement with StudentFinance covering a portfolio of up to €4 million in Income Sharing Agreements (ISAs) to support students in Spain wishing to invest in their studies and upgrade their skillsets. The agreement is backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments Skills & Education Guarantee Pilot, a debt financing initiative launched in 2020 for stimulating investments in education, training and skills.

The EIF support under the EFSI Skills & Education Guarantee Pilot will enable StudentFinance to back more than 1 000 students through ISAs, as well as offering tailor-made training, career coaching and mentoring to support students as they look for jobs, with an emphasis on digital skills. With an ISA, students only start paying for their education after they get a job and earn above a pre-determined income threshold. This model removes financial barriers to education, while aligning incentives for helping students acquire the right skills to secure employment opportunities.

Moreover, thanks to the EIF guarantee, StudentFinance aims to expand its geographical scope to reach students wishing to invest in their future in a number of European countries, such as Germany, Belgium, Poland, Italy and the Netherlands. The EIF will assume 80% of the risk of the financing granted by StudentFinance to students.

Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, said: “The labour market is going through huge transformations right now. Making sure that students have the right skills to meet the new demands is imperative if we want them to thrive. This EU-backed initiative by StudentFinance to help young people invest in their studies is a smart solution which has my full support.”

Alain Godard, EIF chief executive, said: “Education and skills are key elements to promote economic efficiency, social inclusion, growth, competitiveness and, of course, self-development, all in the context of an ever-changing world. The agreement signed with StudentFinance goes exactly in this direction, enabling students to invest in their future while offering targeted training opportunities, career coaching and mentoring.”

Mariano Kostelec, co-founder and chief executive of StudentFinance, said: “Our mission is to remove barriers to education and empower economic mobility. Access to quality education, reskilling and upskilling has become more important than ever, but is also increasingly out of reach for many. We are thrilled to have the support of the EIF in helping us achieve our mission and support thousands of people across Europe in upgrading their skills and securing employment opportunities.”

Background information:

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europe’s micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. The EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments that specifically target this market segment. In this role, the EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment.

The Skills & Education Guarantee Pilot (S&E Pilot) is a debt financing initiative dedicated to stimulating investments in education, training and skills – as part of the solution to get more people into jobs and find better responses to the European economy’s changing needs. Investments in skills contribute to growth, competitiveness, and social convergence while addressing the challenges linked to the digital transformation and the transition to a carbon-free economy.

The EIF is implementing the S&E Pilot on behalf of the European Commission and the initiative therefore benefits from EU budget support under EFSI, the main pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe.

StudentFinance

StudentFinance (https://studentfinance.com) is a fintech company connecting education with employment through Income Sharing Agreements. The company is building the data and technology layer to enable education providers – ranging from boot camps to certificate providers and institutions offering Masters degrees – to offer ISAs as an income-based deferred payment option to their students.

The company was founded in 2019. Today, StudentFinance operates across several countries in Europe, including Spain, Germany and Finland. The company is backed by world-class investors, such as Giant Ventures, Armilar Venture Partners, Mustard Seed Maze, Seedcamp and Sabadell Venture Capital.