Funding U launched in 2016 to help students fund their education by using academic performance as a predictive credit model; the company found early traction without any advertising as they received 2,000 applications from 45 states in 20 days; Funding U Founder and CEO Jeannie Ringo told Forbes about the issues she ran into with VC’s as she was looking for financing; investors were skittish on investing because she was not a serial entrepreneur and her business model was not yet proved out in their minds; “There is a tension between a stated commitment to massively disrupt key industries and receiving a good return on their investments,” said Ringo to Forbes; Ringo was able to secure capital from some key social impact debt investors and has since grown applications more than double along with a fourfold increase in conversions. Forbes
