Harvard Management Company backs Leap that helps students finance their overseas education

• Leap is the parent company of LeapFinance that offers collateral-free education loans.
• The company also helps the students find the right colleges and financial help.
• It has raised over $75 million to date from Sequoia Capital, Owl Ventures, Kunal Shah and others.

Leap, a startup that helps students finance their overseas education, has raised $55 million (₹400 crore) in order to issue international student credit cards and insurance products. The company also plans to expand its services to students across Southeast Asia, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions.

Leap is the parent company of LeapFinance that offers collateral-free education loans and LeapScholar, which guides students to find the right colleges and financial help.

The Series C round was led by Owl Ventures, with participation from existing investors Jungle Ventures and Sequoia Capital India. Harvard Management Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University, also infused an undisclosed amount in the Bengaluru-based startup.

The three-year-old startup — founded by Arnav Kumar and Vaibhav Singh — has raised over $75 million in equity capital to date. It is backed by marquee investors like Cred’s Kunal Shah, Incred’s Bhupinder Singh, Sequoia Capital’s Ashish Agarwal, Balaji Srinivasan of Uni and more.

“In the last 12 months, we have identified and filled key gaps in the international students’ journey -- offering accurate information, guidance, financing and career support,” Arnav Kumar, co-founder of Leap said in a statement.

Leap claims to have helped over 60,000 students with overseas education in 2020 and aims to serve over 1.5 lakh customers in 2021 as well. As per its website, Leap has partnered with over 231 universities that support 2,300 courses.

The company claims to have funded $175 million worth of student loans to date.

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