The startup turning education into an investable asset class

“Winning first place against 2,500 companies gave us instant credibility with regulators and institutional partners – when we walk into a room, we're no longer an unknown Pakistani fintech, we're the startup that just won the region's biggest pitch competition.” 

Every founder spends countless hours earning trust. For companies operating in highly regulated industries, credibility influences everything – from meetings with regulators, to partnerships with financial institutions, and investor confidence.

For Aleena Nadeem (Founder, EduFi), winning the LEAP Award in the Rocket Fuel competition at LEAP 2025 accelerated each of those conversations, creating momentum that continues today. 

“Winning Rocket Fuel gave us instant credibility – conversations that used to take months of relationship-building now start from a place of trust. It didn't just help us close conversations faster, it changed who was willing to have the conversation at all.” 

A stronger case for education finance

EduFi's journey also reflects a wider change in how education finance is viewed across emerging markets. The company has demonstrated a default rate of less than one in 10,000 while financing students in Pakistan – offering compelling evidence for an asset class that has historically attracted limited investor attention.

For Nadeem, those results speak for themselves.

“This default rate directly challenges the old assumption that student lending in emerging markets is inherently high-risk,” she told us. “It shows the risk was never in the borrower, it was in the lack of proper underwriting.” 

EduFi's underwriting model focuses on repayment behaviour and household income.

“When you build a credit model designed for these markets – looking at real repayment behaviour and household income rather than requiring a Western-style credit file – you get outcomes that rival developed markets.” 

The company has also identified a behavioural dynamic that conventional lending models often overlook: 

“There's also a social-collateral effect: parents repaying for their child's education are protecting something they won't risk losing, which drives repayment in a way traditional credit models don't capture.”

For investors, the implications extend beyond a single market. Nadeem noted that this is “proof that education financing can be a serious, de-risked asset class in markets investors have historically written off – which should open the door to more capital across the GCC, South Asia, and beyond.”

Scaling across the region

EduFi has secured its licence in Pakistan and is actively lending to students. Saudi Arabia is the company's next planned market, with launch targeted for Q1 2027.

According to Nadeem, winning Rocket Fuel strengthened conversations around regional expansion.

“It also validated the underlying thesis – that education financing is a real, underserved need across this region, not just in Pakistan – which has made expansion conversations with regulators and partners in new markets much easier to start.” 

For a company expanding into regulated financial markets, that validation is valuable from the perspective of regulators, institutional partners, and investors.

Building financial infrastructure for education

Nadeem’s ambitions are bigger than one company. “My long-term vision is simple: a child's access to education shouldn't be determined by whether their family can produce a lump sum on day one.” 

Before EduFi entered the market, student loan penetration in Pakistan was close to zero – because no financial infrastructure existed to let them pay over time. Following the company's progress in Pakistan, the next phase focuses on bringing the same model to new markets.

“We've proven that model works in Pakistan, and we're building toward the same in other markets, with Saudi Arabia next. The long-term vision is to make that infrastructure standard across emerging markets broadly, so education financing becomes as normal and accessible as any other form of consumer credit, wherever the demand for education outpaces families' ability to pay upfront.” 

The mission comes down to a single outcome: 

“I want EduFi to be the reason 'can we afford it right now' stops being the deciding factor in whether a student enrolls.” 

The Rocket Fuel effect

Every Rocket Fuel winner leaves LEAP with momentum. For EduFi, that translated into stronger engagement with regulators, institutional partners, investors and family offices across the GCC – while reinforcing a powerful investment thesis around education finance in emerging markets.

As Nadeem and her team prepare for their next phase of regional growth, EduFi's story shows us how credibility can accelerate expansion – and how financial innovation is creating new opportunities in one of the world's most important sectors.

Do you want to be a part of Rocket Fuel 2027? Register your interest now.