GyanDhan is India’s first online education financing marketplace which has since April 2016, enabled over 2000 loans via banks to students in India wanting to pursue higher studies abroad. It is working with leading financial institutions including State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Axis Bank and simplifies the education loan process through innovations such as doorstep document pickup, fully online approval for loans without collateral etc.
The fintech start-up will use its proprietary student employability assessment framework – GyanDhan Score, to help its partner NBFCs and banks to structure skill building loan offerings linked to employability-based outcomes.
Investment Rationale
The funding via Gray Matters Capital’s edLABS initiative was made with the objective of GyanDhan diversifying its loan portfolio from Study Abroad loans for Higher Education to making access to affordable and hassle free loans for skill building courses a possibility. In line with this portfolio diversification, GyanDhan is also working on using data insights to rank vocational training institutes in India.
Gray Matters Capital believes that the yawning gap that is seen today between existing skillsets and those required by the workforce for the jobs of the future can be bridged only through vocational education. The funding is aimed at overcoming any financial constraints faced by individuals in India in taking up such courses.
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