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Tag: leverage

  • Visa crackdowns are blocking students’ study-abroad dreams, so India’s Leverage Edu is rerouting them | TechCrunch

    As visa crackdowns and diplomatic tensions block traditional study-abroad routes, India’s Leverage Edu is helping students reroute their dreams — from Canada to Germany, and from India to Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. That agility is paying off: The startup has doubled its revenue, turned profitable, and is now expanding its global footprint.

    Over the past several months, students across emerging markets have faced growing uncertainty around international college admissions. Shifting visa rules and diplomatic tensions — from the 2023-2024 standoff between India and Canada to new strains in India-U.S. ties over tariffs and immigration policy — have disrupted application timelines and eligibility for thousands. Countries such as Canada and Australia have introduced stricter student visa policies, catching many families off guard. Even long-standing local consultants and study-abroad firms have struggled to adapt. Meanwhile, Leverage — the startup behind the study-abroad platform Leverage Edu — has responded by helping students identify alternative destinations and adjust quickly, keeping their plans on track despite the disruption.

    The eight-year-old startup was quick to respond when India-Canada relations soured, helping Indian students reroute to Germany and assisting Canadian universities in recruiting from Nigeria — effectively salvaging student pipelines in both regions. It is now applying that same playbook amid ongoing U.S.-India strains.

    While Leverage continues to send students to the U.S., a growing share of that demand now comes from countries like Brazil and Vietnam — where interest in U.S. universities remains strong, founder and CEO Akshay Chaturvedi said in an interview.

    That ability to shift quickly across geographies is now central to Leverage’s growth strategy. In the last two months, the startup has expanded into Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Vietnam, and Malaysia — emerging markets with growing numbers of students seeking to study abroad but with limited access to structured admissions support. With this push, Leverage now operates in 16 countries where it recruits students, helping them apply to universities across 11 destination countries.

    Beyond applications, the startup — headquartered in Noida, a tech hub on the outskirts of New Delhi — is positioning itself as a full-service platform for international education, helping students plan, finance, and manage their journeys. Its tools include a mobile app, an AI-powered course search engine, a university matchmaking tool called UniConnect, and a newly launched SaaS suite for global universities under the brand Univalley.ai.

    The startup has also expanded into adjacent categories, with offerings like Leverage MBBS for medical aspirants under Leverage Edu, as well as Fly Finance for education loans, Fly Homes for student housing, and other services under Leverage Careers and Compass.

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    Leverage now places over 10,000 students annually, up from around 1,500 just a few years ago. Much of that growth has come through organic demand, with 60% of student acquisitions requiring zero customer acquisition cost, according to Chaturvedi.

    “Our gap has narrowed with most of our global competitors who were either large listed companies or who had raised some of these mega rounds,” he told TechCrunch.

    Leverage Founder and CEO Akshay ChaturvediImage Credits:Akshay Chaturvedi / Instagram

    Financially, Leverage has seen sharp growth — and turned profitable for the first time this year, a rarity in India’s edtech sector. The startup closed fiscal year 2025 with over ₹1.8 billion (around $20 million) in revenue, doubling from the previous year’s ₹900 million (approximately $10 million). Between April and September, the first half of fiscal year 2026, it generated more than ₹2 billion (roughly $23 million), and is on track to end the fiscal year with ₹3.7-₹3.8 billion (about $45 million) in revenue.

    On the profitability front, Leverage garnered ₹120-130 million (approximately $1.4-1.5 million) in profit after tax, and expects to surpass ₹250 million ($2.8 million) by the end of fiscal year 2026 — marking a 256% turnaround from a full-year loss of ₹800 million in fiscal year 2025.

    The startup generates around 25% of its revenue from its platform businesses, which support students beyond admissions — with value-added services including loans, money remittance, housing, and assistance with securing internships or first jobs. The remaining 75% of revenue comes from its core education business — the student placement and counseling services. Within that, about 20% comes directly from students and 55% from universities in commissions, Chaturvedi told TechCrunch.

    India remains Leverage’s largest source market, accounting for 58% of its total student base. Within the country, the startup focuses on states like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Punjab — regions that consistently send large numbers of students to universities abroad.

    In terms of destinations, the U.K. remains Leverage’s largest market, accounting for 52% of student placements, followed by Germany at 22%. Italy — its fastest-growing market this summer — is also gaining traction.

    North America currently represents less than 5% of total placements for Leverage, reflecting tightened visa rules and diplomatic headwinds in recent years. The startup expects this share to grow as its presence expands across Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

    India IPO in plans, likely for 2026

    With rising revenues and an expanding global footprint, the startup is now weighing a potential IPO in India as early as next year, and investment bankers have already made early pitches, people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.

    Founder and CEO Chaturvedi did not deny the possibility of a public listing, but he said Leverage would decide between pursuing an IPO or raising external capital after hitting the $100 million revenue milestone, which the company expects to reach sometime in 2026.

    So far, Leverage has raised less than $50 million in equity. The company operates across 27 countries through over 50 offices and has a headcount of around 800 people.

    Jagmeet Singh

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  • Private equity, private debt and more alternative investments: Should you invest? – MoneySense

    Private equity, private debt and more alternative investments: Should you invest? – MoneySense

    What are private investments?

    “Private investments” is a catch-all term referring to financial assets that do not trade on public stock, bond or derivatives markets. They include private equity, private debt, private real estate pools, venture capital, infrastructure and alternative strategies (a.k.a. hedge funds). Until recently, you had to be an accredited investor, with a certain net worth and income level, for an asset manager or third-party advisor to sell you private investments. For their part, private asset managers typically demanded minimum investments and lock-in periods that deterred all but the rich. But a 2019 rule change that permitted “liquid alternative” mutual funds and other innovations in Canada made private investments accessible to a wider spectrum of investors.

    Why are people talking about private assets?

    The number of investors and the money they have to invest has increased over the years, but the size of the public markets has not kept pace. The number of operating companies (not including exchange-traded funds, or ETFs) trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange actually declined to 712 at the end of 2023 from around 1,200 at the turn of the millennium. The same phenomenon has been noted in most developed markets. U.S. listings have fallen from 8,000 in the late 1990s to approximately 4,300 today. Logically that would make the price of public securities go up, which may have happened. But something else did, too.

    Beginning 30 years ago, big institutional investors such as pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and university endowments started allocating money to private investments instead. On the other side of the table, all manner of investment companies sprang up to package and sell private investments—for example, private equity firms that specialize in buying companies from their founders or on the public markets, making them more profitable, then selling them seven or 10 years later for double or triple the price. The flow of money into private equity has grown 10 times over since the global financial crisis of 2008.

    In the past, companies that needed more capital to grow often had to go public; now, they have the option of staying private, backed by private investors. Many prefer to do so, to avoid the cumbersome and expensive reporting requirements of public companies and the pressure to please shareholders quarter after quarter. So, public companies represent a smaller share of the economy than in the past.

    Raising the urgency, stocks and bonds have become more positively correlated in recent years; in an almost unprecedented event, both asset classes fell in tandem in 2022. Not just pension funds but small investors, too, now worry that they must get exposure to private markets or be left behind.

    What can private investments add to my portfolio?

    There are two main reasons why investors might want private investments in their portfolio:

    • Diversification benefits: Private investments are considered a different asset class than publicly traded securities. Private investments’ returns are not strongly correlated to either the stock or bond market. As such, they help diversify a portfolio and smooth out its ups and downs.
    • Superior returns: According to Bain & Company, private equity has outperformed public equity over each of the past three decades. But findings like this are debatable, not just because Bain itself is a private equity firm but because there are no broad indices measuring the performance of private assets—the evidence is little more than anecdotal—and their track record is short. Some academic studies have concluded that part or all of private investments’ perceived superior performance can be attributed to long holding periods, which is a proven strategy in almost any asset class. Because of their illiquidity, investors must hold them for seven years or more (depending on the investment type).

    What are the drawbacks of private investments?

    Though the barriers to private asset investing have come down somewhat, investors still have to contend with:

    • lliquidity: Traditional private investment funds require a minimum investment period, typically seven to 12 years. Even “evergreen” funds that keep reinvesting (rather than winding down after 10 to 15 years) have restrictions around redemptions, such as how often you can redeem and how much notice you must give.
    • Less regulatory oversight: Private funds are exempt from many of the disclosure requirements of public securities. Having name-brand asset managers can provide some reassurance, but they often charge the highest fees.
    • Short track records: Relatively new asset types—such as private mortgages and private corporate loans—have a limited history and small sample sizes, making due diligence harder compared to researching the stock and bond markets.
    • May not qualify for registered accounts: You can’t hold some kinds of private company shares or general partnership units in a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), for example.
    • High management fees: Another reason why private investments are proliferating: as discount brokerages, indexing and ETFs drive down costs in traditional asset classes, private investments represent a market where the investment industry can still make fat fees. The hedge fund standard is “two and 20”—a management fee of 2% of assets per year plus 20% of gains over a certain threshold. Even their “liquid alt” cousins in Canada charge 1.25% for management and a 15.7% performance fee on average. Asset managers thus have an interest in packaging and promoting more private asset offerings.

    How can retail investors buy private investments?

    To invest in private investment funds the conventional way, you still have to be an accredited investor—which in Canada means having $1 million in financial assets (minus liabilities), $5 million in total net worth or $200,000 in pre-tax income in each of the past two years ($300,000 for a couple). But for investors of lesser means, there is a growing array of workarounds:

    Michael McCullough

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  • Infinite banking in Canada: Should you borrow from your life insurance policy? – MoneySense

    Infinite banking in Canada: Should you borrow from your life insurance policy? – MoneySense

    Now, after a fair bit of research and a few interviews with experts on infinite banking, I feel I know enough to pass on the basics—plus what you should think about before signing up. 

    What is infinite banking?

    According to a useful primer from independent insurance firm PolicyAdvisor, “Infinite banking is a concept that suggests you can use your whole life insurance policy to ‘be your own bank.’” It was created in the 1980s by American economist R. Nelson Nash, who introduced the idea in his book Becoming Your Own Banker. He launched the “Infinite Banking Concept” (IBC) in the U.S. in 2000, and eventually it migrated to Canada.

    An article on infinite banking that appeared both on Money.ca and in the Financial Post early in 2022 bore a simplistic headline that said, in part, “how to keep your money and spend it too.” The writer—Clayton Jarvis, then a MoneyWise mortgage reporter—framed the concept by declaring that the problem with the average Canadian’s capital is that it’s usually doing just one job at a time: it’s spent, lent or invested. 

    “But what if you were able to put your money to a specific purpose and continue using it to generate income? That’s the idea behind infinite banking (IB),” Jarvis wrote. He compared IB to a reverse mortgage: “In both cases, you still possess the appreciating asset being borrowed against—your policy or your home—and you have the freedom to pay back the loan at your leisure[.]” But Jarvis also evinced some skepticism when he added: “those who have sipped rather than chugged the IB Kool-Aid say it’s a strategy that may be too complex to be marketed on a mass scale.”

    Borrowing from your life insurance policy

    If you’re not familiar with the finer details of insurance, infinite banking does seem a bit arcane. Rather than put your money in a traditional bank—which until the last year or so paid next to nothing in interest on accounts—you would invest in a whole life or universal life insurance product, both of which provide some “cash value” from the investment portion of their policies. Then, if you want to borrow money, instead of making hefty interest payments to a bank, you would borrow against your life insurance policy. 

    As PolicyAdvisor explains, “Because you’re only borrowing from your policy, the insurance company is still investing your entire cash value component. So, your cash value still grows even though you’ve borrowed a portion of it.” 

    Those new to infinite banking should watch a YouTube primer made by Philip Setter, CEO of Calgary-based insurance broker Affinity Life. In it, he readily concedes that much of the marketing hype portrays infinite banking as some kind of “massive secret of the wealthy,” which essentially amounts to buying a whole life insurance policy and borrowing against it. Setter has sold many leveraged insurance products himself, but to his credit, in the video he calls out some of the conspiracy-mongering that seems to be attached to infinite banking, including the primary message from some promoters that traditional banks and governments are out to rip off the average consumer. 

    Infinite banking seems to be geared to wealthy people who are prepared to commit to the long term with the leveraged strategy, and who can also benefit from the resulting tax breaks (more on this below). It’s not for the average person who is squeamish about leverage (borrowing to invest) and/or is not prepared to wait for years or decades for the strategy to bear fruit. As Setter warns in his video: “Once you commit to this, there’s no going back.” If you collapse a policy too soon, it’s 100% taxable: “It only is tax-free if you wait until you die … you commit to it until the very end.” 

    Get personalized quotes from Canada’s top life insurance providers.All for free with ratehub.ca. Let’s get started.*This will open a new tab. Just close the tab to return to MoneySense.

    How are insurance advisors paid for selling infinite banking products?

    Asked how advisors are paid, Setter said they receive a lump-sum commission based on the premium amount of the policy. I also asked this of Asher Tward, financial head of estate planning at TriDelta Private Wealth. In an email, Tward said it’s “the same as with any insurance policy—mostly upfront commission based on premiums paid (higher if there is more initial funding). Fundamentally, this is a life insurance sale. If one undertakes an external or collateralized loan versus a policy loan, they may be compensated on the loan as well.”

    Jonathan Chevreau

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  • Collapsing Crypto Yield Offerings Signal ‘Extreme Duress’

    Collapsing Crypto Yield Offerings Signal ‘Extreme Duress’

    The below is an excerpt from a recent edition of Bitcoin Magazine Pro, Bitcoin Magazine’s premium markets newsletter. To be among the first to receive these insights and other on-chain bitcoin market analysis straight to your inbox, subscribe now.

    Speculation And Yields

    This cycle has been super charged by speculation and yield, leading all the way back to the initial Grayscale Bitcoin Trust premium arbitrage opportunity. That opportunity in the market incentivized hedge funds and trading shops from all over the world to lever up in order to capture the premium spread. It was a ripe time for making money, especially back in early 2021 before the trade collapsed and switched to the significant discount we see today.

    Dylan LeClair And Sam Rule

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