Stride Funding, Credit Investors Partner on $105M Student Credit Facility

Stride Funding has partnered with Encina Lender Finance and other credit funds in a bid to get more financial support for students pursuing high-impact bootcamp and certificate programs in the U.S., according to a Monday (April 4) press release.

The $105 million senior credit facility will let Stride fund more students pursuing alternate education in high-growth technology and trade fields.

Stride reportedly provides Income Share Agreements (ISAs) for students across higher education and alternate education. The company has also been partnering with various schools, including General Assembly and SV Academy.

Moving forward, Stride plans to provide flexible, affordable funding for a variety of types of learners. According to the release, the company has pioneered outcomes-driven underwriting and vets programs to ensure students receive a quality education.

Tess Michaels, Stride Funding’s founder and CEO, said the partnership was the biggest facility that’s ever been raised in the space.

“This marks a critical inflection point for the industry as credible, well-known investors enter the market to drive scalable, low cost capital and signal the increasing momentum of outcomes-based funding,” Michaels said in the release. “These funding products are becoming mainstream and enable students of all backgrounds to get access to pursue meaningful careers.”

PYMNTS wrote that Renée Mang, Vemo Education co-founder, has joined Stride Funding as the vice president of operations as part of an expansion of Stride’s leadership team.

Read more: Vemo Co-Founder Renée Mang Joins Stride

“I’m thrilled to be joining the team at Stride. I’ve admired their growth, passion, student centricity, and platform from afar and can’t wait to bring my 40+ years of experience and passion to accelerate Stride’s momentum and operational rigor,” Mang said in a press release.

Mang was the co-founder of Vemo in 2016. Before that, she worked at Sallie Mae for 20 years. At Sallie Mae, her duties included managing $30 billion in new loan origination volume.

With Stride, her duties will include leading customer success, origination, servicing and income verification teams, instilling “operational excellence in teams focused on school partners and student customers alike.”