Project Finance Institute

What Project Finance Institute does

Project Finance Institute (legally Project Finance Training Ltd, Company No. 13498668, registered in England and Wales) is a private UK-based training and certification provider focused exclusively on project finance and public-private partnership (PPP) skills. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Manchester, the company delivers practitioner-led education to investment banking analysts, infrastructure fund professionals, renewable energy developers, government and PPP unit staff, development finance institution teams and advisory/consulting practitioners worldwide. Its portfolio combines a self-paced Certificate in Project Finance Modelling (CPFM, CPD-accredited for 35 hours), a flagship 9-week simulation-based Certified Project Finance Analyst (CPFA) dual certification (99 CPD hours) running three cohorts per year, and a specialist 6-week Project Finance Modelling with AI cohort built around PFI's proprietary PFI Nexus tool and Anthropic's Claude for Excel.

The technical backbone is a custom-built web learning platform with native iOS and Android apps delivering video tutorials, live support sessions, downloadable modelling templates, and community features; the platform hosts a 900+ member professional community, 60+ hours of recorded webinar content, and a multi-channel delivery stack (self-serve subscription, application-driven cohort enrolment, and bespoke in-house corporate training). PFI's revenue model mixes recurring community subscriptions (USD 60/month or USD 540/year with 7-day free trial), cohort-based one-time programme fees (USD 5,900 for CPFA, USD 1,900 for the AI modelling cohort, USD 650 for the standalone CPFM assessment), and quote-based corporate training engagements ranging from single-day workshops to multi-month programmes. Faculty is drawn from active practitioners including Clifford Chance, Cranmore Partners, Garrad Hassan and Scottish Futures Trust, and named enterprise clients span HSBC, Siemens, KPMG, Deloitte, PwC, EDF, Virgin Money, Masdar, ACWA Power, Globeleq, AIIB and the UK National Wealth Fund.

Name

Project Finance Institute

Legal name

Project Finance Training Ltd

Website

https://projectfinanceinstitute.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Project Finance Institute is a UK-based private training provider delivering practitioner-led, CPD-accredited certification and continuing education in project finance and PPP modelling to banks, sponsors, developers, DFIs and advisors worldwide, via a proprietary learning platform and bespoke corporate programmes.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Financial Training and Certification

NAICS

Professional and Management Development Training (61143), Computer Training (611420)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Project, Program & Portfolio Management Certifications (EDAAANAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Finance, Accounting & Risk (CFA/CPA/FRM) Certifications (EDAAANAD)

Keywords

• Project finance training
• Financial modelling education
• Infrastructure finance certification
• PPP training programs
• AI financial modelling

Headquarters

HQ city

Frome

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Community membership subscriptions: Recurring monthly or annual membership providing access to 3 CPD-accredited courses, monthly webinars, recorded content, templates, and community features. USD 60/month or USD 540/year, with 7-day free trial.
2. CPFA programme fees: One-time programme fee of USD 5,900 for the 9-week Certified Project Finance Analyst certification (with CPFM bundled in), payable in up to three installments for self-funders; includes lifetime access to learning platform.
3. Project Finance Modelling with AI course fees: One-time cohort-based fee of USD 1,900 for the 6-week online programme, including licenses to PFI Nexus and Claude for Excel for the duration of training.
4. CPFM Professional Modelling Skills Assessment: Standalone certification assessment priced at USD 650, or bundled as USD 1,099 with 12 months of community access. Optional final model audit marked by instructors.
5. Corporate and team training: Bespoke in-house training for banks, sponsors, development institutions and advisors — ranging from single-day workshops to multi-month programmes; priced on application with CPD accreditation.
6. Freemium content layer: Free expert webinars, free brochure downloads, and 7-day free trial of the membership platform used to drive top-of-funnel acquisition into paid products.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion5 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Project Finance Institute delivers practitioner-led training, certifications, and a community membership platform for project finance and infrastructure professionals. Its offerings include the flagship Certified Project Finance Analyst (CPFA) certification, the self-paced Certificate in Project Finance Modelling (CPFM), the AI-integrated Project Finance Modelling with AI programme, an annual community membership with CPD-accredited courses and webinars, and bespoke corporate team training delivered in-house or live online.

Product overview

The Project Finance Institute offers a platform-plus-modules architecture rather than a single product: a Community Membership subscription platform bundles multiple self-paced courses and webinar content, while several flagship programmes are sold individually. The portfolio comprises the CPFA dual certification (which itself includes the CPFM course), the standalone CPFM self-paced course, the specialist Project Finance Modelling with AI cohort programme (built around PFI Nexus and Claude for Excel), Corporate and Team Training for bespoke in-house delivery, and a recurring Events/Webinars programme that produces a growing on-demand library. The CPFA and CPFM courses are the core capability pathways; Community Membership is the surrounding learning environment that provides ongoing CPD-accredited content, templates and practitioner community; Corporate and Team Training adapts the same curriculum for organisational delivery; and the AI programme is a specialist add-on for practitioners who already model at a high standard.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Certified Project Finance Analyst (CPFA): Flagship 9-week, part-time, remote certification programme in Project Finance integrating legal, financial, and technical concepts through a project bid simulation.
• Certificate in Project Finance Modelling (CPFM)
• Project Finance Modelling with AI
• PFI Community Membership
• PFI Corporate and Team Training

Quantifiable outcome

• Kenny Whitelaw-Jones has taught more than 20,000 modellers to improve their practice
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers32 records

Segments11 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability10 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CelloricoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDan Wilcockson, Founder of Cellori, co-instructs the Project Finance Modelling with AI programme alongside PFI's Kenny Whitelaw-Jones. Testimonials describe PFI and the "Cellori team" as jointly delivering the AI curriculum, indicating a co-development relationship for the AI modelling course content.
• GridlinescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKenny Whitelaw-Jones is Partner at Gridlines and Co-Founder of both Gridlines and the Project Finance Institute. Gridlines is referenced as the creator of the Essential Financial Modelling course bundled in the community membership.
• Clifford Chance LLPminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerJeremy Connick, Partner at Clifford Chance LLP specialising in Project development and finance, serves on the PFI faculty delivering legal content within the CPFA programme.
• Cranmore PartnersminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerYusuf Macun, Managing Partner of Cranmore Partners, is listed as a PFI faculty member. Kenny Whitelaw-Jones is also identified as Head of Financial Modelling at Cranmore Partners.
• Scottish Futures TrustminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerToby Tucker, Associate at PFI, is identified as Director at Scottish Futures Trust and works closely with Scottish Government on net-zero financing and funding strategies; he delivers live content across the courses and webinars.
• Anthropic (Claude for Excel)coreTechnology or IntegrationClaude for Excel is bundled into the Project Finance Modelling with AI programme alongside PFI Nexus; participants receive licenses for the duration of the training to use Claude as a core modelling agent within the curriculum.
• CPD Standards OfficecoreOthersThe CPD Standards Office accredits both the CPFM (35 CPD hours) and the CPFA (99 CPD hours) programmes. PFI is listed in the CPD Standards Office directory of providers, lending third-party credibility to its certifications.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Corporate Finance Institute (CFI): Corporate Finance Institute is a direct peer offering online financial modelling, valuation, and finance certifications to a global professional audience via subscription and individual course purchases. It competes most directly with PFI's CPFM and community membership offerings for the same self-directed learner persona.
• Gridlines: Gridlines is a financial modelling consultancy and training provider whose Partner (Kenny Whitelaw-Jones) co-founded PFI and whose Essential Financial Modelling course is bundled into PFI's community membership. It is a direct peer in financial modelling training and a strategic partner, with significant operational overlap.
• Wall Street Prep: Wall Street Prep is a direct peer offering practitioner-led financial modelling, valuation, and corporate finance training to investment banking, private equity, and corporate development professionals. It competes for the same self-paced certification-seeking segment as PFI's CPFM programme.
• Operis: Operis is a financial modelling and project finance advisory firm whose former Director of Finance (Morag Loader) now leads PFI's accounting and tax instruction. It offers financial modelling services and training directly comparable to PFI's CPFM and corporate training offerings.
• Full Stack Modeller: Full Stack Modeller is a financial modelling community and resource hub co-founded by Kenny Whitelaw-Jones alongside PFI. It targets the same modelling practitioner community with educational content, events, and resources, making it a closely overlapping direct peer and sister brand.
• Breaking Into Wall Street (BIWS): Breaking Into Wall Street is a direct peer offering financial modelling and investment banking interview training via self-paced online courses and corporate training. It targets the same investment banking analyst persona with structured modelling curricula, overlapping with PFI's modelling certifications.

Broad incumbents

• Fitch Learning: Fitch Learning is the training arm of Fitch Group, offering professional certification and corporate training for banking, credit, and risk professionals globally. It is a broad incumbent competing for the same enterprise training budgets as PFI's corporate training offering, though with a much wider portfolio.
• Euromoney Learning: Euromoney Learning delivers professional training and certification programmes for banking, capital markets, and infrastructure finance audiences. It overlaps with PFI in the project finance and infrastructure training space, particularly for institutional clients, as a broader incumbent with deeper institutional distribution.
• BPP Professional Education: BPP Professional Education is a broad incumbent professional training provider covering accountancy, banking, and finance certifications with both self-paced and corporate offerings. It competes for adjacent learning budgets and the same mid-career professional learner, though it does not specialise in project finance modelling.

Emerging players

• Cellori: Cellori, founded by Dan Wilcockson, is an emerging player that co-instructs PFI's Project Finance Modelling with AI programme and is described as jointly delivering the AI curriculum. It is a closely related emerging player in AI-for-financial-modelling and an explicit strategic partner to PFI.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/project-finance-institute

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Project Finance Institute