You’re signing up for an account which gives you access to a weekly free story and our archive of free stories. You will also receive a daily newsletter in your inbox. You can unsubscribe by clicking the link in the footer of all our emails.
“When you’re in a position to have gotten so much, the gift at this point is giving back.”
– Paul Stanley
We allow only two simultaneous login sessions per subscriber. If you continue, we will log you out from the above devices
Account successfully created
Account details updated
Email Sent to:
Check your inbox for instructions to reset your password.
Taking credit
Leap Finance’s “one-click loan” is set to disrupt and digitise the study abroad financing market
Zero-collateral loans disbursed in dollars, a low rate of interest and end-to-end support to students are Leap’s USP
To generate enough leads though, the startup has to straddle the fintech-edtech world carefully, with deep-pocketed competitors on each side
Covid disrupted the whole sector. As market leaders like HDFC Credila get more digital, Leap needs to get more conservative, as it puts itself in front of new audiences
Want to read a free 200 word summary?
When Leap Finance launched in 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic was only a few months away. As a fintech offering education loans to students looking to study abroad, its launch couldn’t have come at a worse time. Within a few months of its existence, its core target market—students—were grounded and shut out of countries they wanted to study in. Leap’s young business should have slowed to a crawl and died.
Strangely, the opposite happened. Despite the constantly-shifting travel rules, and the threat of the virus, the study abroad sector rebounded quickly. In 2020, 260,000 Indian students left to study abroad—50% of the previous year’s traffic. By March 2021, another 71,000 students had joined their ranks. This traffic is only bound to go up, as countries like the UK relax their post-school work visa rules.
Leap Finance, and other fintechs like it, are cashing in on the resurgence. Leap’s “one-click”, digital-first loan product has attracted a slew of big-name funders like Sequoia, Harvard Management Company, and Jungle Ventures. All told, the startup has raised $77.5 million. According to information .mobile_app_view{ display: none; } shared shared Times of India Leap Finance gets $17 million led by Jungle Ventures Read more publicly by the company in March 2021, Leap has “helped” 20,000 students on their study abroad journey, and has about 200,000 registered users on its platform. A media .mobile_app_view{ display: none; } report report Business Insider Harvard Management Company backs Leap that helps students finance their overseas education Read more from September stated that Leap “claims to have funded” $175 million worth of student loans.
At its core, Leap’s USP is that it is a simple, end-to-end, online process, taking students right from course selection to loan financing to organising essentials like a credit card, housing and even an international bank account at the destination. Atop its loan product, Leap has built a full suite of services like Leap Scholar, LevelUp and Leap Advantage, which provide counselling services, offer online IELTS classes and even help students land an internship while they’re studying.
“In the offline world, students would have to talk to 10-12 different counsellors to complete this journey. Online, they only need one service provider,” says Piyush Bhartiya, co-founder of AdmitKard, an online study abroad company that competes with Leap to provide similar services to students but doesn’t dabble in lending.
“There’s fatigue amongst VCs funding edtech models. We now have FMCG-style monopolies in traditional edtech. The study abroad segment is an obvious niche to disrupt,” says a Bengaluru-based investor who wished not to be identified to avoid a conflict of interest
Through its end-to-end model, Leap’s USP is that it’s disrupting two traditional study abroad sectors.
Based in Delhi, Olina writes about mega-trends in urban mobility, education, skilling and the environment, with a focus on how institutions and innovations can help cities grow sustainably. She is a graduate of the London School of Economics, and has worked previously with India Today and global non-profit Ashoka.
Subscribe to read this story
The Ken is the only business subscription you need. Questions?
Premium
$ 120 10% off
$ 120 10% off
$ 120 /year
$ 120 /year
Borderless
$ 199 10% off
$ 199 /year
Echelon
$ 299 10% off
$ 299 /year
Buy access to this story
Get access to just this story for a year
$ 20
Just sign up for free. Experience The Ken
No end date. No credit card required
Read some of our best free stories
Experience The Ken’s offering and products
Sample our premium newsletters for 14 days
Unrivaled analysis and powerful stories about businesses in India and Southeast Asia from award-winning journalists. Includes access to longform articles, premium newsletters across a range of topics depending on your interest and our top-ranked podcast. For those who want to be prepared for what comes next.
Decode the most significant shifts happening around business, technology, startups and healthcare. All told through a combination of original reporting, beautifully visualised data and infographics, and delivered as a compelling narrative story.
Our subscribers include executives and leaders from the world’s most successful companies, students at top post-graduate campuses, and smart, curious people who want to understand how business is shaping the future of India and Southeast Asia.
Articles are generic, almost cookie-cutter in their approach. And they don’t provide enough context on the issues they cover. The Ken is different. I don’t always agree with everything they say but I appreciate their commitment to publishing deeply reported narratives and investigations. Their reporters find new ways to analyze tech among other industries. And that’s always worth a read.
A personal subscription to The Ken was a no brainer. But as startup founders, this isn’t enough. Team members also need to be in the know, for everyone handles customer-facing responsibilities and an ecosystem change that impacts customers also impacts us
The policy & execution is in quite a mess. the flip flops on KYC, the insidious use (& abuse) of consent, the hopeless competition with zero-balance Jan Dhan accounts – all brought out starkly. Congratulations!
that shape our understanding of businesses around us. With placements around the corner, Ken is a great resource to prepare and ace our interviews.
Read insightful, deeply-reported business stories everyday. Over 1500 stories published till date
Access exclusive newsletters based on your interest from award-winning journalists
Join and engage with 300,000+ other career-minded subscribers across Asia
Listen to our top-ranked business podcast to understand the stories that matter
What kind of subscription plans do you offer?
We have three types of subscriptions
– Premium which gives you access to either the India or the Southeast Asia edition.
– Borderless which gives you complete access to The Ken across both editions
– Echelon which gives you complete access to The Ken across both editions along with a bonus gift subscription
What do I get if I subscribe?
The Premium edition gives you access to stories in that edition along with any five subscriber-only newsletters of your choice.
The Borderless and Echelon subscription gives you complete access to The Ken across editions and unlimited access to as many newsletters as you like.
What topics do you usually write about?
We publish sharp, original and reported stories on technology, business and healthcare. Our stories are forward-looking, analytical and directional — supported by data, visualisations and infographics. We use language and narrative that is accessible to even lay readers. And we optimise for quality over quantity, every single time.
Our specialised subscriber-only newsletters are written by our expert, award-winning journalists and cover a range of topics across finance, retail, clean energy, cryptocurrency, ed-tech and many more.
How many newsletters do you have?
We are constantly adding specialised subscriber-only newsletters all the time. All of these are written by our team of award-winning journalists on a specialised topic.
You can see the list of newsletters that we publish over here.
Does a Premium subscription to your Indian edition get me access to the Southeast Asia edition? Or vice-versa?
Afraid not. Each edition is separate with its own subscription plan. The India edition publishes stories focused on India. The Southeast Asia edition is focused on Southeast Asia. We may occasionally cross-publish stories from one edition to the other.
We recommend the Borderless or the Echelon Plan which will give you access to stories across both editions.
Do you have a mobile app?
Yes! We have a top-rated mobile app on both iOS and Android which allows you to read on-the-go and has some amazing features like the ability to bookmark stories, save on your device, dark mode, and much more. It’s really the best way to read The Ken.
Is there a free trial?
You can sign up for a free account to experience The Ken and understand our products better. We’ll send you some free stories and newsletters occasionally, and you can access our archive of previously published free stories. You can stay on the free account as long as you’d like.
The vast majority of our stories, articles and newsletters can be accessed only by a paid subscription.
Do you offer any discounts?
Sorry, no. Our journalism is funded completely by our subscribers. We believe that quality journalism comes at a price, and readers trust and pay us so that we can remain independent.
Do you offer refunds?
No. We allow you to sample our journalism for free before signing up, and after you do, we stand by its quality. But we do not offer refunds.
I am facing some trouble purchasing a subscription. What can I do?
Just write to us at [email protected] with details. We’ll help you out.
I have a few more questions. How can I reach out to you?
Sure. Just email us at [email protected] or follow us on Twitter.
Check out our FAQs for all the answers to everything.
Or
Download the Ken App and unlock the full potential of The Ken.
@NatesanSiv Been glued to The Ken for a while now. Gives you all you need to know in a non traditional language both concise and to the point. Well done @TheKenWeb
@asperised Anyone interested in knowing the impact of COVID-19 in India should definitely subscribe to the BFO newsletter by @TheKenWeb It’s free and it’s amazing.
Verification Code has been sent to your Email address
Sorry, our free subscriptions require a real email id, because that’s how we send you our daily stories. Please enter a valid email.
Account Detail Updated
Please Wait …
Delete Account?
Are you sure you want to delete ()?
On deletion the user will become free starter
Emails has been sent
We’ve sent your invite. Continue adding your teammates to your subscription here?
Enter the email address that you’d like us to send this payment link to. This could be your HR, finance representative, or anyone from your organization. A copy of this email will be sent to the team’s admin as well.
Email Sent Successfully
Corporate pricing applies to teams of 5 or more members only.
Thank you. We have received your request to post comments. You’ll hear from us soon.
Are you sure? Your subscription will expire at the end of your current subscription period.
Automatic payments successfully cancelled. You will not be charged again.
Your order invoice has been resent to your billing email. (You may have entered a different email than the one you’re logged in with)
Please upgrade to a paid account first
Are you sure? Canceling automatic payments can not be undone.
You’ve got access!
Deepak Shahdadpuri has unlocked this article for you
Sponsor Details
Loading user data
We’ve emailed your gift link. Want us to send some more?
The Ken has invited you to sign up for The Nutgraf by The Ken.
The Ken has invited you to sign up for The Nutgraf by The Ken.
Having your name allows us to address you personally in emails and on our website. That’s all, nothing else.
The Ken has added you as a partner. Read The Ken as a couple. Sign in to get started.
The Ken has added you as a partner. Read The Ken as a couple. Sign up to get started.
Having your name allows us to address you personally in emails and on our website. That’s all, nothing else.
See all results for .
Or share through your address book:
Gmail
Outlook
Choose friends to share with
Viraj Soni
[email protected]
Viraj Soni
[email protected]
Viraj Soni
[email protected]
Viraj Soni
[email protected]
Viraj Soni
[email protected]
Viraj Soni
[email protected]
Viraj Soni
[email protected]
Viraj Soni
[email protected]
Viraj Soni
[email protected]
Viraj Soni
[email protected]
Viraj Soni
[email protected]
Viraj Soni
[email protected]
Emails sent to your friends.
Welcome to The Ken
As a part of the Learning and Development program at Myntra-Jabong, you have complete access to 300+ original daily stories over the next year, 500+ previously published stories and our comment sections. Also, do keep an eye out for our exclusive subscriber-only iOS and Android apps which will be rolled out for you shortly.
Happy Reading!
We’ll get back to you within 2-7 working days .
We welcome contributors from journalists, subject matter experts, and anyone who has a good story to tell.
Activating your subscription
