Funding U Finds Success and Roadblocks in Reinventing Student Lending

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

  • Emily Donato

    With efforts in many different areas of the team, she helps manage, organize and execute digital and event content. She works with webinars, podcasts, social media along with managing the hundreds of speakers that attend our conferences. Emily was a part of the Zimmerman Advertising Program at the University of South Florida. She graduated in 2019 receiving a Bachelor of Science in Business Advertising.