Investment in Lendorse for better access to higher education
Impact-driven financing from LUMO Labs for students for whom traditional loans are too burdensome.
Published on June 8, 2025
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Berlin-based start-up Lendorse has raised €1.75 million in growth capital in an investment round led by LUMO Labs and Soulmates Ventures. PI Impact and angel investor Daniel Naber also joined the round. Lendorse plans to use the funds to develop its student finance platform further and expand its team “to meet rapidly growing demand.”
Lendorse focuses on international students who have been admitted to European universities but often drop out due to financial barriers. Through the platform, they receive an advance for tuition and living expenses. Repayment is only made after graduation, based on a fixed percentage of their future income. In this way, the company offers an alternative to traditional loans.
“We don't just invest in students, we invest in their future,” says CEO and co-founder Bjoern Christian Wolf. “Everyone with ambition and talent should have access to education, not just those who can afford it.”
In addition to financing, Lendorse also offers career guidance and integration tools to help students succeed in the European labor market. The technology behind the platform utilizes a data-driven selection model that considers educational performance, motivation, and expected career development.
Fast and consistent
According to Dagmar van Ravenswaay Claasen of LUMO Labs, this makes the service scalable and fair: “The algorithm ensures fast and consistent decisions, so that the money goes to those who really need it.”
Lendorse was founded in 2022 by Bjoern Christian Wolf, Evgenii Avdeev, and Hannah Sharpe. The company has previously received support from Techstars, Earlybird Vision Lab, and the European Investment Bank, which awarded the project the “Skills and Education Guarantee.”
With this new investment, Lendorse aims to increase its impact in Europe. Michal Sikyta of Soulmates Ventures puts it this way: “Equal access to education is essential for innovation and growth. Lendorse makes that possible for a group that is often left behind.”
