SecureMyScholarship, a Dubai-based EdTech platform that connects students with scholarship opportunities, has raised $550,000 in a bridge funding round, which values the company at $6 million. The investment round was led by Sabban Corp Investments, a Dubai-based venture capital firm with a focus on early-stage investments across the GCC, and saw participation from a number of high profile angel investors as well as participation from existing shareholders.
Since its launch in November 2021, SecureMyScholarship has been on a mission to democratize education. Its unique approach connects students with guaranteed fee waivers and scholarships at prestigious universities in Dubai, the USA, and the UK. The company have listed 414 universities on its platform, including almost all private universities in the UAE, over 220 in the USA, and over 150 in the UK. As of March 2024, it has disbursed over $8.2 million in scholarships, helping over 1,500 students fulfil their dreams of studying at top universities worldwide.
Speaking about the demand for the startup’s services, Craig Fernandes, Co-founder and CEO of SecureMyScholarship, said:
Our platform is 100% free for students applying for scholarships in UAE, and for students applying for scholarships in the USA and UK, we charge a nominal one-time subscription fee of $50. Aside from scholarship support, our team helps students with loan applications, visa applications, and university application submissions.
The universities themselves fund the majority of scholarships listed on the platform. SecureMyScholarship also provides students with unique, promotional scholarships that are offered to students throughout the calendar year. In some cases where the university is not offering a scholarship, the platform will fund it.
According to Fernandes, SecureMyScholarship’s success is due to him and his team focusing on monetization from the start. That is his first piece of advice for fellow entrepreneurs. Indeed, he urges them to focus on monetization rather than raising funds as “pre-revenue startups in UAE find it very difficult to raise capital.”
With the new funding, the startup is poised for rapid expansion. It plans to accelerate product development and extend its operations into India, a market with immense potential for its services. The latest investment brings the total capital raised by the firm to $1.2 million. The company said that it is already cash flow-positive and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA)–positive, demonstrating its financial stability and potential for growth.
