Flywire Acquires Education Payments Platform Cohort Go

Global payments enablement and software company Flywire has acquired international education payments platform Cohort Go to bring students, agents and student services to Flywire, according to a joint press release Wednesday (July 13).

The acquisition will help Flywire accelerate the growth of its agent team, improve its product and payments innovation and deepen its investment across Asia Pacific, the press release said. Cohort Go gives international students the ability to make cross-border tuition payments through international agents.

Cohort Go’s agent platform is expected to help Flywire’s agent solutions deliver greater value to educational institutions, agents and students. Cohort Go as partner relationships in almost 40 geographies, presenting growth opportunities across APAC and Latin America, the release says.

“Recruiting agencies play a critical role in the international student journey by assisting students in finding placements in higher educational and other institutions,” said Mike Massaro, CEO of Flywire, in the release. “Cohort Go has been prominent in this space, with a network of over 1,000 agent partnerships, including some of the most prestigious student recruitment agencies in the world.

“As we continue to invest in our Flywire Advantage — the combination of our next-gen payments platform, proprietary global payment network and industry-specific software — we seek opportunities to embed deeper into the workflows of our clients, agents and payers, with the goal of driving more value for them,” he said.

Related: Billtrust, Flywire Results Show B2B Payments Modernization Continues, Cards Gain Acceptance

During its quarterly conference call with analysts, Massaro said that the total payment volume for the quarter increased 46% compared to Q1 2021. The company said in its supplementals that it has more than 420 travel and B2B clients.

Rob Orgel, president and COO, said that 70% of respondents in Flywire’s research say they lose between 4% and 10% of revenue in an average month due to time wasted because of operational inefficiencies with payment processing.

Flywire’s next quarterly earnings call is scheduled for Aug. 9.