Financial constraints are preventing thousands of students from accessing quality higher education, resulting in unequal job market opportunities. Resolving this challenge, Spanish edtech startup Bcas offers a flexible financing solution for students.
International expansion plans
Bcas, which is dedicated to enabling students to access higher education without financial barriers, has closed a €17 million funding round led by MyInvestor and Actyus (Andbank Group’s venture debt fund). With this round, the total funding raised by the company accounts for €25 million.
This fresh funding will help reinforce Bcas’s leading position in Spain and fuel its ambitious international expansion plans.
In the student financing sector, we recently saw US fintech Adro raise $1.5 million and Singaporean startup EduFi bag $6.1 million.
Pilot to train 7,000 students
The European Investment Fund (EIF) has backed Bcas with guarantees for its €30 million vehicle. This agreement aims to support the training of 7,000 students in high-demand skills for the job market, regardless of their socio-economic background. This guarantee pilot, part of the “InvestEU Skills and Education” action plan, aims to help students enter the job market by providing training in the most sought-after skills by employers.
Flexible student finance provider
Founded in 2021 by Bosco González del Valle, Javier Ausín, and Manuel Avello in Spain, Bcas offers help and support for students to get money through search, application, processing, and collection of scholarships for study, embedded with installment payment and pay-later facilities, enabling students to focus on their studies.
The goal is to allow talented students, who lack financial means, to pursue post-graduate courses and high-quality training programs that enhance skills highly sought after by employers. such as cybersecurity, data science, AI, and more. With this model, students do not have to pay anything until they secure a job with a salary of over €16,000.
In two years, the platform has provided over €8 million to more than 1,500 students, making it Spain’s leader in ISA funding. The company collaborates with over 60 educational institutions, including Ironhack, The Bridge, ISDI, ThePower, 4Geeks, UNIR, EIP, and HACK A BOSS, among others.
Bosco González del Valle, co-founder and CEO of Bcas, said: “This is a significant milestone for our company. Establishing our first partnership with a bank provides us with direct access to funding. All the funds will be allocated to paying educational institutions and, in turn, supporting our continued growth.”
“Bcas has developed a ‘scoring’ system that has enabled us to finance over 1,500 students in just two years. We are already seeing our students securing better job opportunities. The EIF and Bcas share a common vision. This is, undoubtedly, the most significant milestone we have achieved to date,” added Javier Ausín, co-founder and COO of Bcas.
