Emerging markets Like Vietnam, Africa and Middle East Offer untapped growth opportunities: GradRight’s Aman Singh

GradRight, an AI-powered SaaS platform, brings together prospective students, universities, and lenders on a single platform to simplify higher education abroad through better access, affordability, and tech-enabled guidance. The platform claims to have processed over $3 billion in loan requests, helping more than 200,000 Indian students in two years. In an interaction with ET Online, Aman Singh, Co-founder of GradRight, described it as the world’s first Ed-FinTech and highlights how the platform has empowered thousands of deserving students from middle- and low-income families by connecting them with the right universities and lenders. He also discussed the FY ’25 growth trajectory, market expansion plans, and expectations around Series B funding. Edited excerpts: ET: How has GradRight’s growth journey been so far? Could you share your year-on-year (YoY) growth numbers?
Aman Singh: GradRight’s growth journey over the past few years has been nothing short of transformative. Since 2021, we’ve witnessed exponential growth in the number of students we have been able to empower, the loans we have processed, and the funds sanctioned with our interventions.

For instance, from processing just over 10,177 loan requests in our first year, amounting to INR 1,000 crores, we have grown tremendously. By 2024, we handled 33,637 loan requests, resulting in INR 8,700 crores—a staggering increase that highlights our scalability and efficiency. Similarly, the total loans sanctioned through our platform have crossed a remarkable ₹5,700 crores, a testament to the trust we’ve built with both students and lenders.
In just the last two years we have partnered with over 50 institutions across US, Europe, Canada to assist them with their marketing and enrollment goals from India.In terms of impact, we have supported over 3.36 lakh students to date, enabling them to find the right college and pursue their higher education without financial hurdles.
ET: Could you give us an overview of GradRight’s business model? What are the key revenue streams driving growth?
AS: GradRight’s business model is centered around empowering students with seamless access to education financing while creating value for our partners. Our primary revenue stream comes from facilitating education loans. This segment contributes to approximately 60% of GradRight’s revenue and involves partnering with banks and financial institutions that pay a commission for loans disbursed through the platform. This process is fully digital, breaking barriers for students, especially in Tier II and Tier III towns by providing access to 16 major lenders globally. A significant portion of GradRight’s revenue, around 30–35%, is derived from university marketing services. Universities subscribe to the platform to connect with students who meet their specific criteria. Through this subscription model, universities gain the ability to market themselves directly to potential students using targeted, data-driven strategies. The remaining 5–10 % of revenue comes from newer offerings such as insurance and refinancing. GradRight collaborates with insurance aggregators to market international student health insurance and forex services to students. Additionally, refinancing student loans has emerged as a promising segment. This involves renegotiating lower interest rates for graduates with stable jobs.

ET: Could you share your revenue split geographically? Are there emerging markets where you see untapped potential?
AS: Currently, GradRight’s highest contributing region is the United States, which accounts for approximately 70% of our revenue. This dominance stems from our focus on enabling seamless financing and student-university matching for those pursuing higher education in the U.S., which remains a top destination for international students. Europe follows, contributing around 30% of our revenue, making it another significant region for us.
As we look to the future, we see untapped potential in emerging markets such as Vietnam, Africa and the Middle East. These regions are witnessing a growing appetite for international education, supported by favourable demographic trends and increasing investment in education. We plan to leverage our AI-driven platform and tech expertise to establish a presence in these geographies, expanding our footprint beyond our current markets.

ET: Are there any challenges that you encountered in supporting students at the grassroots level?
AS: Supporting students at the grassroots level comes with its own set of challenges. One of the biggest issues is access. Students from smaller towns and Tier II or Tier III cities often don’t have access to good counselors. Many students who come from economically challenged backgrounds cannot afford high-quality counseling services, which can cost anywhere between ₹2 lakhs to ₹15 lakhs, especially at the undergraduate level. Even those who want to pursue higher education abroad face significant hurdles in financing. Banks, for example, are often hesitant to fund students from Tier 2 colleges or lesser-known schools, particularly for high-ticket loans like ₹50 lakhs or more, because these students may not have the collateral to back it.

In smaller towns, you don’t have banks or their branches readily accessible to approve such loans. And this is unfortunate because for every one student who successfully goes abroad, there are five others who cannot, despite being capable and aspirational. We built GradRight with the intent to solve this issue. The platform helps students make the two most important decisions in their higher education journey: where to study and how to finance it. We leverage data from over 25,000 programs across six countries. A student inputs their profile—GPA, test scores, work experience—and their preferences, like their interest in AI or data science, and their preferred location, say the US or Canada. Based on this, the platform provides personalized recommendations, showing them which colleges are a match and their chances of admission. At the same time, it looks at the financial side. Our system tells students which banks or lenders are willing to fund specific colleges. For example, if a college is fundable by a certain lender, that information is right there for the student. This makes their decision not just aspirational but also practical. And if the student chooses a partner college, they can even interact directly with the admissions team or current students of that college through the platform.

ET: Funding is critical for scaling in the education finance sector. You received Series A funding last year, what are your plans for Series B funding now?
AS: We have a solid and profitable unit economics. Without additional funding, we can still operate profitably, but with Series B, we will be able to pursue a higher growth trajectory, further bolstering our global presence and measuring up to the expectations we had set for ourselves. We plan to raise funds to strengthen our position in the market and open new ones. We are currently in conversations for our Series B funding, to raise a significant amount of capital. This capital will primarily be directed towards scaling our operations in India and opening international markets, particularly the U.S., and strengthening our technology platform to sustain global competitiveness.

Since GradRight is an AI-powered SaaS platform, what tech innovations are you implementing or in the works to enhance transparency and support for students, universities, and lenders in this evolving space?
Everything we have built so far has been keeping transparency, trust and accountability as the core guiding principles. Our platform is entirely AI-enabled and uses advanced machine-learning algorithms to match students with universities, assess financing probabilities, and enhance operational efficiency across all major functions.
For students, this means ensuring they have access to clear, unbiased options for financing their education—real-time comparisons of loan offers, interest rates, and terms tailored to their profile. For universities and lenders, it’s about creating a data-driven platform that fosters trust and improves decision-making.