Edstart

Edstart is a BNPL financing provider for school education fees, backed by National Australia Bank’s venture capital fund. Edstart pays educational fees, including expenses associated with tuition, boarding, uniforms, technology, trips, textbooks and stationery, and extracurricular activities, directly to the educational institutes. Users can select a weekly, fortnightly, or monthly repayment cycle. Users are allowed to change, prepay, or cancel their plans at any time without any additional costs.

The company provides two products: 1) Edstart Pay, which allows customers to spread school fees up to 12 months, free of interest, and 2) Edstart Extend, which allows customers to extend the payment period up to five years beyond graduation with an interest rate ranging from 5.9% to 12.9% per annum based on the customer’s risk profile and payment terms.

Edstart also charges a 3% flat transaction fee on both products and they can be customized to cover current and future educational expenses, without needing to reapply each year. The company also accommodates any late payments due to temporary cash flow issues by providing alternative payment dates, new payment cycles, or payment holidays, free of any additional charges or fees. By November 2021, Edstart had received funding requests for more than AUD 500 million (approx. USD 370 million) since 2016.

In its latest funding round in November 2021, the company raised AUD 10 million (approx. USD 7.4 million) in Series B funding led by HEAL (Healthcare, Education, and Lifestyle) Partners. Edstart planned to use the fresh funds to double its team of 30 and to expand its partner network of over 500 Australian schools that were active at the time of fundraising.

Key competitors: None comparable (Edstart offers BNPL financing provider for tuition fees)