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Avenify 2.0 — A marketplace for human potential
Avenify is a marketplace for human potential, enabling investors to back high-potential students and earn a return when they succeed.
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I’m very impressed by what @pottsjustin and @timosheridan have built so far. Room for explosive growth over the next decade.
👋 Hello again, Product Hunt! I'm the co-founder and CEO of Avenify. We're excited to launch Avenify 2.0, the next phase in building a marketplace for human potential.
🚀 Today we're rolling out Marketplace, which lets investors build their own portfolio of high-potential students. Think of it like GoFundMe or Kickstarter, but for investing in human equity. When we first launched, investors could only invest in a pooled fund of students, so this is a huge step forward for Avenify, and the industry as a whole!
💸 How does it work? Investors start by browsing student profiles on the marketplace. Once they find one they like, they can view the profile, and make an investment. Six months after the student graduates, they'll begin making payments as a percentage of their income, and investors will begin earning returns!
👀 All students on the platform are carefully vetted before being listed on the platform. We've hand-selected the top students from hundreds of applications, analyzing data like their academic performance, previous borrowing history, program statistics, alumni earning data, and more.
👨⚕️ For now, we're focusing on nursing students. Income share agreements (our unique financing instrument) differ from loans in that there's no underlying balance or interest that accrues. That means the ideal candidates for ISAs are those entering fields where wages are predictable, unemployment is low, job placement is high, and demand is growing. Nursing hits all the marks, most notably their record-low unemployment rates and high job placement rates across the board!
🤷♂️ Ready to get started? Browse student profiles, and when you find one you like, fill out the form. Our team will be in touch to complete your investment! If you're interested in learning more about Avenify Fund II, request access and our team will reach out.
☎️ If you have any questions, leave a comment here, send us a note at investors@avenify.com, or use the live chat on our site. We're excited to hear what you think!
Is there a cap on how much investors are paid back? e.g. If students pay back $100000 for a $15000 loan that doesn't sound fair.
Great execution btw
Hey @kyunbit1! We cap repayment at 2.5x the principal amount. We project investors on Avenify will earn a 12-15% IRR.
Mmmm no I don't like this at all, sorry. Indentured Servitude as-a-service isn't it.
Hey @btn0s! Appreciate the feedback. Timo and I were recently students ourselves, and experienced student loans first-hand. We set out to build Avenify to be a product we and our friends would want to use.
Majority of private loans on the market today are inaccessible to students without a credit score or cosigner, and if you're lucky enough to qualify you're burdened with high interest rates and inflexible payments, regardless of your income or circumstances.
We designed our ISAs to be as student-friendly as possible, including generous deferment qualifications, a minimum income threshold, payback cap, and income-based payments tailored to them and designed to be affordable. Additionally, we don't have any control or ownership over the student's career, so they're free to pursue what they want!
To me, this seems like a very scary opportunity for students to pursue. An example I saw on the marketplace was a student that was looking to raise $15,000, and she was agreeing to give 13.5% of her future Nursing salary for 60 months.
A quick Google search said that the average salary for a recent RN grad is $60,000/yr.
So, over 60 months, this student would be paying a total of $40,500 for that $15,000 loan on Avenify.
This same $15,000 loan as a Federal student loan with 6% interest over 5 years would amount to $17,400 as the total amount paid.
Is my math correct on this @pottsjustin ?
@pottsjustin @chedglen that assumes they don't get a raise too, closer to $45k with a 5% annual raise
Hey @chedglen and @mike_seekwell! Thanks for the questions. We factor in a number of student protections, including a payback cap, which ensures the participant will never pay back more than 2.5x what they borrowed.
Our ISAs are more comparable to private student loans, whose interest rates range between 8-12%. We've found students are willing to pay more of a premium for financing given the benefits our ISAs provide (income-based payments, no interest, deferment qualifications, minimum income threshold, early repayment opportunities).
@mike_seekwell @pottsjustin Even at a 12% interest rate, wouldn't the student above only pay $20,000-ish?
I just bring all this up because I have student debt myself, and this concept seems comparable to me to payday loans (which I regrettably had to use in the past), as in it's capital you seek as a student when all of your other options are exhausted.
As for the benefits: If you're able to get federal student loans, they also provide income-based repayments, deferment, and early repayment. You're paying interest, but you don't have to pay a large percentage of your salary. And if you're making below $20,000 (Avenify's minimum income threshold), your Federal loans would probably be on hardship deferment anyways.
I can't speak to private loans, as I haven't taken any before.
I guess I just don't see paying double for those benefits.
Hey @edisonjoao6871! The first students will start making payments later this year so we don't have any historical data on repayments yet, but we project investors on Avenify will earn between a 12-15% IRR.
How this is different from students loan? I understand, no interest etc.. but all that looks very superficial.
At the end or at core if this is, investor give money to students (vetted, so that they can pay back later) and students have to pay investor principal + some extra (which I think is very high).
Isn’t this correct?
Kudos on a very impressive product! and smart to target the market for nurses given the shortage of qualified professionals. Are you looking to add any features, functionality or products onto the platform?
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