Landing a $25,000 win at Friday’s TechRise fintech pitch competition in Chicago came a couple months after securing a $10,000 grant from the 4.0 Fellowships out of New Orleans to build out a pilot program at Washington University, St. Louis. The money will go towards development and sales, and it came just in time.
Bryon Pierson, EDURain CEO
“I was going to die about a month ago because we ran out of money and none of the investors wanted to double down,” EDURain CEO Bryon Pierson told bizblip. He took a restaurant job to pay his contract developers while he continued training sales interns. “We’re ok until fall, and hopefully sales will go well this summer… we have a full squad that can actually support sales.”
EDURain is a fin-tech platform providing college-bound students a suite of financial tools. The company initially attempted to put together bridge loans for incoming students to allow them to pay for a deposit for off-campus housing, which is less expensive. Pierson pivoted to a business model connecting landlords with incoming students in early 2022 and got traction (and revenue) with real estate leasing agency STL CityWide.
“We actually invoiced the person today on a sale,” Pierson said about the pilot. “There’s a housing shortage now… we’re helping these students compete for affordable housing in the St. Louis area.”
EDURain was founded in Nov. 2017, is headquartered in St. Louis, MO, with Pierson being the only full time employee. He has assembled a team of 15 part time contractors and interns. Pierson says he’s raised $155,000 from a variety of sources, including FF&F. EDURain participated in, or has been helped by, the Skandalaris Center, St. Louis Regional Chamber, Impact Ventures, Balsa Foundation, ITEN, Olin School of Business, I-Corps., SLU Research, Spark! and Maryville University.
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