How EduFi turned a tuition bill into a monthly instalment
Pakistan had no student loan product to speak of. EduFi built one by paying colleges directly, underwriting families itself and raising the country's largest pre seed round.
When EduFi launched its app in Pakistan, the category it was entering barely existed. Student loans were not a standard bank product, TechCrunch reported in November 2023, so families who could not pay a semester's fees in one go turned to personal loans with high interest and slow approvals. Aleena Nadeem, who incorporated the company in 2021 after a spell in Goldman Sachs' credit division in London, told the site that students at dental or medical schools "have to pay upwards of $8,000 upfront, which is not sustainable for many in Pakistan".
Finding the customers through the colleges
EduFi did not sell to students one at a time. It signed up institutions, which gave it a channel to every family on the fee roll. By the time of its funding announcement it had partnerships with 15 universities, TechCrunch reported, which put the app in front of about 200,000 undergraduate, master's and PhD students. Forbes said the count had reached 27 colleges by May 2024 and had doubled in six months. The company's own February 2026 announcement of a partnership with the University of Chenab put the network at more than 50 institutions, a figure that is company reported.
The institutional pitch runs both ways. Minhaj University Lahore's notice of its memorandum with EduFi describes a study now, pay later programme for students alongside a free student management system for the university.
Underwriting families nobody had scored
The harder problem was credit. EduFi built its own model and, according to TechCrunch, tested it against 80,000 consumer finance loans made by banks over an 18 month beta before it was licensed. MIT News reported in March 2025 that the scoring system weighs the borrower's financial history along with the student's grades and payment record with the college. The parent is typically the borrower, there is no collateral, and the company charges a 1.4 per cent service fee on monthly payments.
“By not taking collateral, we really open up the credit space to new people who would not have been able to get a bank loan.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan approved EduFi for a lending licence in late 2023 and granted it in February 2024, after which the company began disbursing loans across the country. MIT News reported that more than half a million dollars went out in the first six months and that fewer than one in 10,000 loans were not being repaid, a figure the company supplied.
Money, and then a second market
EduFi's $6.1 million pre seed, announced in November 2023 and led by Zayn VC with Palm Drive Capital, Deem Ventures, Q Business and angels, was described by Forbes as the largest such round in Pakistani startup history. The company said it would use the money to reach more customers, improve the platform and move into neighbouring countries.
The next market turned out to be Saudi Arabia. EduFi won $250,000 and first place at the Rocket Fuel Pitch Competition during LEAP 2025 in Riyadh in February 2025, and in December 2025 it was one of nine startups selected for Batch 10 of the Sanabil Accelerator by 500 Global, which EduFi's own news page describes as a seed round backed by 500 Global. No amount has been disclosed.
Through 2026 the company's announcements have been a steady run of partnerships: the University of Chenab in February, a memorandum with the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry in July to finance education for corporate employees, and a private school in Oman in August. Its website now lists offices in Lahore, Riyadh and Muscat. No public figure yet shows the scale of the Gulf business.
