Kuhoo gets $20 million in fresh funding from WestBridge Capital

Bengaluru: Student loan fintech platform Kuhoo has raised $20 million from WestBridge Capital, as part of its first institutional funding.

The eight-month-old startup is looking to partner banks and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) as well as top colleges to provide credit to students.

Kuhoo provides digital loans to students applying to universities in India and abroad.

The Mumbai-based company currently focuses on providing loans for higher education courses, including engineering, business administration, executive education, online courses, among others.

“…we combine advanced technology along with data science to create risk and credit models. These models help us evaluate students’ potential employability and future incomes for various courses (that they) enrol in,” said Prashant Bhonsle, founder, Kuhoo.

Kuhoo competes with Propelld, which also focuses on providing education loans to individuals, and Sequoia-backed Eduvanz, which lends to individuals looking to reskill and upskill themselves.

Propelld raised $35 million in a funding round led by
WestBridge Capital in February.

“With the rising costs of education, we believe that India needs loan providers who comprehensively understand the problems of students, parents, and academic institutes. Assessing future employability and income of students are two of the biggest challenges for existing banks and NBFCs that offer student loans,” said Deepak Ramineedi, partner, WestBridge Capital.

Fintech firms have also been focusing on providing financial services to students. Owl Ventures-backed Leap, which
raised $55 million in fresh funding last year, looks to provide insurance, and international student cards to students, apart from assisting them with education loans.