StepEx raises £1.1m in pre-seed funding from BBVA Anthemis Venture Partnership and Triple Point Ventures to scale its student finance platform.
The pre-seed round was backed by BBVA Anthemis Venture Partnership and Triple Point Ventures to fund platform development and team expansion.
StepEx is a London-based fintech startup providing outcome-based student finance through Future Earnings Agreements rather than traditional debt. The platform uses Open Banking and machine learning to predict future earnings, helping students access expensive postgraduate and technical courses.
StepEx has secured £1.1m in pre-seed funding to develop its machine learning model and user platform while expanding its senior team. The round was backed by BBVA Anthemis Venture Partnership, Triple Point Ventures, and prominent angel investors including Chris Adelsbach.
The FCA-regulated fintech firm provides Future Earnings Agreements, allowing students to pay a percentage of their future income once they cross an agreed salary threshold. The company currently partners with leading institutions such as London Business School and INSEAD to widen participation in postgraduate and technical education.
From the founder
"Finance for postgraduate and technical qualifications is outdated and prohibitive. The best courses are too expensive for the vast majority of potential students, and the costs are not covered by Government loans. The Student Loans Company loses 80p for every £1 it lends – a public finance model simply isn’t viable when half of Masters graduates go on to earn less than the UK average so would never repay the loan. Debt is a poor solution to this problem, with lending terms based on past income, which restricts opportunity for younger and less wealthy individuals and limits upward social mobility. Outcome-based finance fixes this and opens up enormous economic opportunities for people who would otherwise be priced out of the kind of courses that unlock significantly higher earning potential."
Daniel George
Founder and CEO at StepEx
Investor perspective
"From the beginning of our journey, StepEx and its founder Dan stood out. His passion, know-how and grit impressed me. He effectively co-designed a new regulation over 18 months with the UK government and succeeded to be the first regulated entity in Europe to offer Future Earnings Agreements. Many renowned educational institutions all over Europe are offering StepEx’s solution to their students, which increases diversity and financial inclusion – while also collecting an incredible amount of data to develop StepEx’s proprietary future income predicting tool."
Christhi Theiss
Head of BBVA Anthemis Venture Partnership, BBVA Anthemis Venture Partnership
Use of funds
- 01Continue product development
- 02Grow the team
