Maqsad, a startup building a mobile-first platform to transform education in Pakistan, announced a $2.1 million round of pre-seed funding today. In just three weeks—and entirely over Zoom—Maqsad closed the round, which was led by Indus Valley Capital. Alter Global, Fatima Gobi Ventures, and several individual founders from Pakistan and the Middle East also participated.
Founded by Taha Ahmed and Rooshan Aziz, Maqsad is building a one-stop shop for after-school academic support for 100m Pakistani students. The mobile-only platform will deliver high-quality localized academic content that is in a mix of English and Urdu. This will be supplemented by quizzes and other gamified features that will come together to provide a personalized learning experience.
Aatif Awan, the founder and Managing Partner of Indus Valley Capital said “We’ve been looking to invest in a startup transforming education in Pakistan since Indus Valley’s inception. Maqsad founders’ deep understanding of the problem, unique approach to solving it, and passion for impact persuaded us quickly that this was the team to partner with. We are thrilled about helping Maqsad become the platform for Pakistan’s youth to realize its potential.” Aatif brings a product growth perspective to Maqsad, having previously helped boost LinkedIn’s network to half a billion members as Vice President of Growth.
Having grown up in Karachi, childhood friends Taha and Rooshan are well aware of the challenges within the Pakistani education system – at 44:1, the nation’s student-teacher ratio is among the highest in the world. Furthermore, the best teachers tend to focus on niche segments, widening the educational gap. Regrettably, research has also shown that Pakistani children are less likely to go to school for each kilometer of distance between school and their homes—with girls being four times more affected.
The Covid-19 pandemic created a global education crisis, which was more pronounced in developing countries. This gave rise to ed-tech startups globally, with ventures in countries like India and Indonesia scaling rapidly to make education more accessible for the wider population. “Struggles of students during the early days of the pandemic motivated us to run a pilot. With promising initial traction and user feedback, the potential to digitize the education sector became very clear” says Rooshan, previously a banker at BNP Paribas in London.
On this occasion, Ali Mukhtar, General Partner of Fatima Gobi Ventures, said, “Pakistan’s Edtech opportunity is one of the largest in the world and we are excited to back Maqsad in delivering tech-powered education that levels access, quality, and cost across Pakistan’s youth and creates lasting social change”
Maqsad’s mission is to level the playing field by offering Pakistani students the tools they need to succeed in their exams and beyond. “It’s about more than just getting students to pass their exams. We want to start a revolution in the way Pakistani students learn, moving beyond rote memorization to a place of real comprehension” Taha said, formerly a strategy consultant for LEK in London.
The word ‘maqsad’ means purpose in Urdu. “We believe everyone has a purpose. Maqsad’s mission is to enable Pakistani students to realize this purpose; whether you are a student from an urban center, such as Lahore, or from a remote village in Sindh: Maqsad believes in equal opportunity for all” explained Rooshan.
A core pillar of Maqsad’s strategy is to foster a high-growth environment that brings together Pakistan’s top talent to develop a world-class product. “We have been blown away by the talent we’ve seen so far and are very excited about the future of the ecosystem” says Taha.
“What’s so exciting about Maqsad is not just its massive growth potential,” says Jesse Sullivan, CEO and founder of Silicon Valley-based Alter Global. “It’s the high character founders. I am confident that Taha and Rooshan’s success will inspire the next generation of founders in and around Pakistan, where the tech ecosystem has explosive potential.”
Maqsad will be launching its mobile app in Q4 2021 and currently has a waitlist for early access.
