Raza Munir was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 Education list in 2018 for his work as cofounder of Climb Credit, a lending company that works with schools that can justify the cost, time and effort for those attending.Climb Credit
For 30 Under 30 alumni Raza Munir, things have come full circle. The former Goldman Sachs employee founded Climb Credit – a company that offers ROI lending for collegiate students. “We focus on financing education that can get students tangible career-growth and income-increase results,” says Munir. Climb Credit announced today that it has raised an additional $50 million in lending capital from the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group.
“We’re really excited not just by the fact that it’s from Goldman Sachs, but that the investment group aligns with our understanding and believes in the importance of building a strong community and making a social impact that betters society,” says Munir. Since its founding in 2001, the Urban Investment Group has committed $7 billion to companies and projects supporting social mobility.
The past few years have seen an explosion of edtech startups within the higher education space—like Climb Credit—who are disrupting collegiate ecosystems. As it stands, the company currently partners with over 100 college-level schools, has originated close to $100 million in loans and worked with nearly 10,000 students. Launched in 2014, they aim to offer high school graduates an alternative approach to cheaper, “more compelling” education.
With national student loan debt dubbed “a $1.5 trillion crisis,” Climb Credit’s lending promotes affordable training alternatives to college-bound graduates, or what they call “ROI-driven investment” in schooling. Munir cites coding boot camp General Assembly as a prime example of a school they offer financing for, one he says has never been considered a “college,” in the traditional sense, by the U.S. Department of Education or by typical lenders.
Catching the interest of one of the leading multinational investment banking companies aside, the startup reports that based on a survey they conducted at the end of 2017, the median salary increase for their graduates is 66.7% and that of the students who held more than one job after graduation, 38.9% saw an additional median pay increase for the second job.
With this new lending capital, Climb Credit plans to expand what they can offer students. “This capital has just naturally evolved from where we first started our company about four years ago. It not only allows us to be able to continue to provide solutions to more students, but it’s also part of our strategy to shift from being a lending company to a career transformation platform,” Munir reveals.
He says they’re finding that more students and learners are coming to Climb Credit earlier in the college education process when they are still deciding on what career they should embark on or are unsure about what kind of school they should go to. Munir & co. see it as a market opportunity to scale out their service offering to encompass the entire education-to-career pipeline.
New services will include helping college-bound students select the right education/training for their skillsets, getting financing for school and eventually even aiding graduates with job placement and recruitment. “We’re in all sorts of different industries; from things including data science, heavy construction operation, teacher training, underwater welding, truck driving. So, we have people coming to us much earlier on in their journey and we want to be the point of guidance for them throughout that career transformation.”