Kuwait-based Ruba has raised an undisclosed pre-seed funding amount, allowing the start-up to strengthen its proposition to capture a slice of the US$26 billion GCC private education market.
“Ruba started off as a smart directory to help parents make an educated decision about the best school for their child’s future”, explained Ruba COO Fawaz Al-Rashdan. “However, due to market needs, we have shifted our focus to offering Shariah compliant enrol-now-pay-later (ENPL) solutions for private schools and nurseries in the region, and have a plan to cover universities as early as next year.”
Ruba is currently present in Kuwait; it plans to expand into Saudi Arabia early next year as part of its regional growth strategy.
The start-up provides flexible financing solutions specific to the education sector, allowing monthly digital payments of school fees over a period of up to 12 months at no cost. Educational institutions on the other hand, can manage and track all payments through the digital platform.
“Since officially launching in September 2022, the traction we’ve witnessed has been tremendous,” said CEO Ameen Nadoom.
Ameen, Fawaz and Chief Technology Officer Menawer Al-Azmi founded Ruba in November 2021 leveraging on their collective experience in management consulting, banking, telecommunication and retail.