Our unique business model has social impact embedded at its core. We believe that access to financing for international graduate education should be borderless, and based on future potential rather than current circumstance. It shouldn’t matter where you are born or live, or how wealthy your family is - if you have talent and drive then you should be able to access the education you need to fulfil your potential. This belief allows us to finance thousands of students that have few (or no) other options to fund their degree.
Our social bond framework
Making international postgraduate education affordable and accessible is the driving force behind Prodigy Finance. We support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”) and recognise the role the private sector needs to play in achieving them by 2030.
To that end, we’ve developed a Social Bond Framework which will enable the issuance of Social Asset-Backed Security Bonds or “Social Bonds” to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
Recent trends and a decade of impact
Impact Report
"Talent is borderless, and access to education and financial services should be too."
-- Cameron Stevens, CEO and Founder, Prodigy Finance
The impact a postgraduate degree can have is far-reaching. Our Impact Report reviews our first ten years to help us better understand the impact we are having on people's lives. Download the report to hear from our borrowers, and to read more about our Mission and Theory of Social Change.
Trend Report
Over the last 13 years of supporting high-potential students at the world’s leading universities, we’ve been compiling data to keep abreast of trends that affect education funding. As we strive to continue expanding academic opportunities for students around the world, we are happy to share our insights.
We bring great students to great schools
Investor eligibility
Prodigy Finance is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority(FCA). In order to invest in the Bond Programme, you must be a Professional Investor. This means that you are either:
A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION OR A SUBSTANTIAL BUSINESS ENTITY
Or:
A HIGH NET WORTH INDIVIDUAL (OR AN ASSOCIATED INVESTMENT ENTITY) WILLING TO BE TREATED AS AN ELECTIVE PROFESSIONAL CLIENT
If you meet either of these criteria and wish to invest, please send us an email at investor@prodigyfinance.com
Investment features
You’ll only be able to invest once you’re registered as either a) professional investor, b) high net worth or self-certified sophisticated investor, and have completed our pre-investment questionnaire.
Below are some of the features accessible through investing with Prodigy Finance.
- Diversification. Loan portfolio achieves diversification by funding postgraduate students attending business, engineering, law public policy, and health sciences degrees at top universities around the world.
- Regular coupons. Investors receive a quarterly coupon payment of principal and interest as students repay their loans.
- Social impact. 89% of current borrowers depend on Prodigy Finance to fund their degree and 80% come from emerging markets.
- Limited liquidity. This product may have limited or no liquidity and you may find it difficult or impossible to realise the value of your investment. Capital at risk.
- Listed instruments. Bonds are issued on the main board of the Irish Stock Exchange.
- Multiple currencies. Investors can choose to invest in multiple different currencies, including GBP, EUR, and USD.
- Unique private debt. Our bonds consist of a portfolio of unsecured, not guaranteed loans provided to talented students studying at top universities globally.
"I wanted to invest a small sum of money in an asset other than property but I did not feel comfortable investing in companies that I had no connection to, or which I could not be sure were acting ethically in their business activities and decisions. I liked the idea of a ‘community investment’ that supports real people doing something that will benefit their careers and long-term futures."
- JAYNE GLASS, INVESTOR
Important disclosures for the MBA Community Loan PLC note programme
In accordance with the EU regulation prospectus we are required to make the following documents available in relation to the MBA Community €1,000,000,000 Secured Limited Recourse Note Programme:
Key stakeholders
Prodigy Finance is backed by venture capitalists Balderton Capital and Index Ventures, investment manager RMI, and has also raised debt capital from institutional investors to further support postgraduate students. The Board of Directors includes Ed Wray, a co-founder of the hugely successful peer-to-peer betting company, Belfair.
Discover our research papers
Whitepaper: Technology as an enabler for international access to credit
Technology has the power to change lives in ways we are yet to imagine, and right now it is shaking up the world of consumer finance.
In this white paper, we look at the four key challenges faced by start-up firms for the use of technology in enabling globally mobile consumers to access credit – funds that are critical to achieving personal hopes and dreams, while also re-shaping the international finance sector. These are:
- Varying regulatory environments
- Difficulties building a standardised business model
- Credibility
- Cyber security
Whitepaper: Finance that transforms lives
The changing face of global credit mobility and how Fintech is providing opportunities for international students.
What you will learn from this whitepaper:
- Why global credit mobility is so critical in the pursuit of tertiary education.
- The role traditional lenders in developing nations have played in shaping global credit mobility for education.
- How Fintech is disrupting the status quo.