Coderstrust to use large investment for new study fund project

The serial entrepreneur Ferdinand Kjærulff’s latest startup Coderstrust, that offers student loans to programmers who are in the rapidly growing online freelancing market, just closed a large investment round that included investments from a wealthy Norwegian family.

Ferdinand Kjærulff puts the s in serial entrepreneur. He has been a part of numerous successful startups for instance Airhelp that, within a few years, has become a global company that offers air passengers legal council.

As a captain in the Danish army he took part in a recovery mission in Iraq where he was part of a project that brought internet and e-learning to local iraqis. That became the start of Coderstrust.

The edtech startup focus on upgrading the skills of freelancers in the developing world. In order for them to get jobs on online platforms like Freelancer.com, Fiverr and Upwork.  

“Young people in developing countries has typically been forced to move to the city to get an education and a job, but with Coderstrust youth in Bangladesh can get access to an education and a job as  programmer without leaving their hometown,” says Ferdinand Kjærulff.

Internal study fund can create more success stories

Until now Coderstrust has allowed for organisations and individuals to hand pick students and offer them student loans, but the new investment is going to be used to create a study fund that make Coderstrust able to pick students themselves in the future.

“Recntly, ee have received two types of investments. One is a traditional equity investment, where a group of investors – led by a wealthy Norwegian family – has invested 2.700.000 kroner in Coderstrust that will be used to set up a study fund,” says Ferdinand Kjærulff.

The other type of investment comes from Danida and Accenture who has put forward 8.000.000 kroner into the new and revolutionary study fund. The new money makes Coderstrust able to offer 7.000 study loans in Bangladesh – according to Ferdinand Kjærull that is a doubling of their current level.

“It is our clear conviction that talented students without the necessary monetary means are those that becomes the best freelancers. Now we have the money to focus on the erection of a study fund that can invest in even more of the right kind of students,” says Ferdinand Kjærulff.

Facts on Coderstrust:

Within a few years Coderstrust has built a following comprised of several hundred thousand people on social media.

More than 3.000 students has finished the Coderstrust education.

A six month programme costs 300 US dollars and it is financed through the online loans that Coderstrust offer.

On average it takes a student two months to repay the loan. After that the students earn upwards of 800 US dollars per month after a year.

Coderstrust recently commited to a joint ventyre with Nobel winner Muhammad Yunus and his bank Grameen Bank. The joint venture is aimed at contributing to the startups exponential growth in recent years.

The new investors in the company includes multimillionair Carsten Hjelde, who joins the existing gorup of investors that include Morten Lund (Bullguard, Skype), Lone Fønss Schrøder (IKEA, SAXO BANK), Stig Abildsø (Exit til Atea), the Godrej family in India (one of the wealthiest families in India) and Kotaro Yamagishi – A leading japanese business angelEn angel investor er en velhavende person, der tilbyder penge, mentorskab og ekspertise til start-ups og nystartede virksomheder. De påtager sig risici for et More.

Furthermore, UN has invested large sum of money that is earmarked to syrian refugees in the middle east and a private real estate developer has employed Coderstrust to do a roll out on a smaller island in the Caribbean. Finally, the company has a commitment for a two-digit amount in the millions from private impact investors and the World Food Program that feeds 80 million people in 80 different countries.