July 22, 2022

International Students to Spend More Than Half a Trillion by 2030, Says Leap Co-Founder

V Vaibhav Singh, co-founder of Leap, has said that international students are likely to spend more than half a trillion dollars by 2030. He made these claims in a recent interaction with the press. Speaking to an online news portal, Leap’s co -founder said that spending on international research is already $200 billion annually and is increasing by "at least 8-10 percent each year."

In the course of their conversation, Singh emphasised the value of financing options like Leap Finance, which primarily lends money to Indian students intending to study abroad. Singh predicted that these options would "accelerate how fast we get there and above and beyond that." He added, "It’s a very very large opportunity. Student loans are often the make or break need in whether a student from an emerging market can move abroad."

…you can’t just be sourcing leads for existing banks and saying ‘hey, you take all the risk’ – because then ultimately access gets restricted…

While he is positive on the spending, Singh asserted that "the big challenge" in facilitating education finance is the need to assume financial risk, adding that "You need to be a producer, you can't just be an aggregator." You can’t just be sourcing leads for existing banks and saying ‘hey, you take all the risk’ — because then ultimately access gets restricted. By participating in that slice of risk, we are able to ensure that we take the credit decisions.

Leap has facilitated "just under" $500 million in loans since its launch in 2019 and, according to Singh, will disburse an additional $300 million this fall. Last month, the company disclosed that it had raised $75 million in its most recent funding round.

Posted in News and tagged News, International Students, Leap Finance, Study Abroad
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