Knoma, an innovative knowledge marketplace that aims to encourage lifelong learning, has secured an additional $4 million in equity investment to advance its use of open banking data and drive international growth.
The funding was issued by The Venture Collective, Fasanara Capital, Rocket Internet, and Global Founders Capital. It follows a $27 million raise in debt financing from Fasanara Capital, together with previous equity rounds led by Rocket Internet and Global Founders Capital.
Founded in 2019, Knoma helps people find and finance the courses they need to get ahead in their careers or to kickstart new ones. Providing an ethical finance solution, the startup offers users gain access to up to £10,000 at zero fees and zero interest, and allows them to spread the cost of the course over 12 months with a flexible repayment schedule that works best for them.
Knoma is built upon the firm belief in the importance of lifelong education to drive improvements in users’ future prosperity. It believes that education should be accessed in a short, but frequent manner, at a lower price point and a focus on gaining technical, digital, and data skill sets. With this, Knoma helps people looking to future-proof their career or move into new areas of work by reducing the barrier of payment and removing the pain point of sourcing technical courses.
Speaking about the platform and the latest investment round, Brett Shanley, CEO of Knoma, said,
“I am extremely passionate about the importance of lifelong learning for both individual and economic development, yet affordability and accessibility serve as continuous blockers to professional growth. The main purpose of Knoma is to overcome these challenges through our unique finance solution, where in a short amount of time we have established partnerships with over 100 education providers and have funded over 1,000 individuals, which is just amazing.
We have strong ambitions to advance our tech stack and use of open banking data, whilst ensuring we can positively impact the lives of individuals worldwide. I am, therefore, incredibly excited to have secured this next stage in equity investment and am very grateful to be working with such credible investors, not to mention the entire Knoma team.”
Knoma is already working with over 100 education partners, including Emeritus, upGrad, Learning People, CodeClan, and Ironhack, who benefit from its ‘buy now, pay later’ financing solution. It has funded over 1,000 individuals and is now focused on leveraging the power of LinkedIn and open banking data to ensure users see the best ROI on their time and money, whilst expanding its reach globally with sights set firmly on Australia.
With its headquarters in London, Knoma is employing a growing team of 15 people and the startup has raised a total of $33 million funding to date.
