Vikram S. Pandit has been on the sidelines of the banking industry since resigning as chief executive of Citigroup last October. But with a new investment, Mr. Pandit is betting an upstart lender will be able to compete with the giants of Wall Street.

Mr. Pandit is among the investors in a round of financing raised by CommonBond, a Brooklyn-based start-up that lends to M.B.A. students and refinances existing debt. The financing, including equity and debt, totals more than $100 million, the company said.

Though Mr. Pandit has kept a low profile since his sudden departure from the helm of one of the nation’s biggest banks, the CommonBond deal is his second publicly disclosed investment this year. In May, Mr. Pandit and a business partner bought a 3 percent stake in the Indian financial services firm JM Financial.

The two investments fit under a broader thesis that the business of providing credit is changing, as traditional banks pull back. Mr. Pandit plans to make more investments along these lines, according to a person familiar with his thinking who spoke on condition of anonymity…

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