Education loan provider Lorien Finance has raised seed funding of $1.8 million (around Rs 14.8 crore) led by Venture Catalysts.
The round also saw participation from TSM Ventures and a host of angel investors including Kunal Shah (Cred), Suhail Sameer (Ex-BharatPe), Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta (boAt), among others.
The New York and New Delhi-based company will use the fresh funds for geographical expansion and boost product stack.
Founded by Nikhil Mudgal in 2021, Lorien Finance claims to offer education loans to Indian students at lower and collateral-free interest rates as low as 8.5%.
The company also added that it does not impose forex conversion fees, prepayment penalties or hidden charges which makes it easier for students to take up loans for pursuing higher education. It further plans to expand its services across Southeast Asia, South America and Africa.
“Our focus is on diversifying our product offerings and entering new markets to ensure growth,” said Mudgal.
Meanwhile, Venture Catalysts is an incubator and early-stage venture capital firm which invests in deeptech, business-to-business (B2B), software-as-a-service (SaaS), fintech, insuretech, food and beverages, and healthtech sectors at an average cheque size of Rs 2 - 15 crore.
The Mumbai-based firm was founded by Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Anil Jain, Anuj Golecha and Gaurav Jain in 2016 and counts BluSmart, Klub, Melorra, Kala Gato, Mitron TV, Rage Coffee and others as part of its portfolio.
The firm has been part of around 94 deals and made investments worth $100 million. To date, it has made 27 exits. Last week, the firm participated in the $25 million Series B funding round of the Electric vehicle delivery app Zypp Electric.
