Website lendedu.com | Founded 2014 | |
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Founders Nate Matherson & Matt Lenhard Headquarters Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S.A. | ||
LendEDU is an online marketplace for student loan refinancing. It has been compared to Lendingtree.com but for student lending.
Contents
History
Nate Matherson and Matt Lenhard, University of Delaware students, attended the Iowa Startup Accelerator in summer 2014 with the idea for an online tutor-booking platform they called ShopTutors. The original idea was dismissed, and LendEDU, an online marketplace for student loans and student loan financing, became their focus. Through the program, LendEDU earned $50,000 in funding from Built by Iowa. Additionally, LendEDU received a $5,000 grant from the University of Delaware’s VentureOn program which focuses on the development of small businesses.
Through 2015, the company expanded using resources from the Horn Program Venture Development Center. They were chosen to participate in Y Combinator in December 2015. At that point, it had raised a total of $120,000 in funding. At the start of the program, LendEDU received $120,000 for seven percent of the company.
Platform
The LendEDU platform takes an application filed out by users and matches those needing loans with a lender using consumer credit information. Originally, the platform only gave users the option to refinance loans. The platform compares rates, terms, and qualification requirements for potential loans.