Stride Funding secured $30 million of low-cost education financing from Silicon Valley Bank. Stride will use the warehouse credit facility to fund upskilling programs for graduates of SV Academy, a skills and employment platform for jobseekers transitioning into technology sales and customer success careers.
Stride Funding is a provider of outcomes-driven funding, such as deferred tuition agreements (DTAs), across alternative and higher education programs.
“We see this strategic partnership alongside SV Academy and Silicon Valley Bank as a milestone along our pathway to invest in students and further economic mobility,” Tess Michaels, founder and CEO of Stride Funding, said. “Partnering with industry leaders like SV Academy and SVB bolsters our ability to deliver on our mission of serving as a catalyst for career growth and economic mobility by providing educational and career resources alongside financial support for students of all backgrounds.”
SV Academy, founded in 2017 and based in San Francisco, supports more than 400 technology employers with connected sales talent. To date the academy has created 2.3-times salary uplift post-program completion for graduates and achieved greater than 90% placement rates. In addition, 60% of its students are women and 72% are members of underrepresented communities in the technology sector.
Stride’s platform offers schools a platform for funding that includes marketing, customized program design, origination, underwriting, income verification, payment management, wrap-around career support and scalable financing.
SV Academy’s deferred tuition program powered by Stride and financed by Silicon Valley Bank allows graduates to pay tuition in equal installments only in those months where they are earning at least $3,750 per month (or $45,000 annualized), thus providing downside protection and aligning the cost and value of SV Academy’s upskilling programs (where the average graduate earns more than $70,000 per year).
“Offering DTAs to our learners and leveraging Stride’s end-to-end platform has spurred meaningful growth at SV Academy. In the last 12 months we’ve seen a significant increase in job placements while maintaining the lowest delinquency rates in the market, demonstrating the importance of aligning the cost and value of education alongside a best-in-class operational partner,” Rahim Fazal, CEO of SV Academy, said. “We are excited to expand the partnership with Stride Funding — together we will continue to support underrepresented jobseekers looking for high-growth careers with our partner employers.”
“At SVB, we actively collaborate with industry partners, organizations and clients to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the innovation economy through our access to innovation initiative,” Nick Christian, head of specialty finance at Silicon Valley Bank, said. “We are excited to support Stride’s efforts to increase accessibility and affordability for students across the nation and further SV Academy’s mission to help job-seekers forge a path into the tech sector.”
“DTAs continue to be a great tool to make our employer-driven programs more accessible for jobseekers from diverse backgrounds,” Fazal said. “After reviewing the funding landscape, Stride’s aligned mission and leadership designing and managing funding programs while creating access to capital markets became apparent and has been essential to our growth. SVB’s support for our collective work will bolster our joint efforts to elevate career and economic opportunity for students of all backgrounds. Together we will continue reshaping alternative education and supporting more learners across the U.S.”
