Your-Space, India’s premier student housing Company raised USD 10M in Series-A funding (a combination of pure equity and convertible debentures) led by the personal investment from Mr. Shantanu Rastogi (of General Atlantic) and Mr. Ajay Gupta’s (Capital Foods) family office AJAX Capital and Holy Basil Consultancy Private Limited, which also saw participation from Mr. Manish Choksi’s (Vice Chairman at Asian Paints) family office, Sunidhi Group’s family office, Mr. Sanjaya Gupta (former MD & CEO of PNBHFL), amongst others.
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Founders – Nidhi Kumra & Shubha Lal
“The fundraising is a testament to the confidence of our stake holders in our value proposition – sharp focus on product management and redefining customer service standards at a reasonable price. The funds will help us deepen our presence in a competitive crowded market. It gives us the fire power to continue delivering global service standards at scale,” said Co-founder and COO Ms. Shubha Lal.
Your-Space was born with a purpose, to better the students’ world while they toil hard to study away from their homes. Its foundation is cemented in four pillars of commitment: Security, Comfort, Community and Health.
It is redefining student living with a unique product proposition. The core philosophy is to cultivate a student-first environment that promotes holistic well-being and personal growth.
The company will utilize these funds for growth focusing on metros and Tier I cities. They will also be enhancing operating robustness through a scalable, modular technology platform, which will help augment user experience and assist in building a large student community. Human capital is at the heart of service delivery, part of the funds will also be used to further strengthen and retain the core team, which has recently seen additions like the CMO, Head of Community and Head – Legal and Compliance.
“We are in the sector of Student Lifestyle! A lifestyle that is designed to promote education, personal growth and student happiness. Our strategy for expansion is to remain focused on being the most preferred student housing brand in India. We are operating best in class real estate, enveloped in user-friendly technology and service oriented people, hence delivering the best customer experience to students, parents and educational institutes,” added Ms. Nidhi Kumra, Co-founder and CEO.
With the fresh influx of students, to the top Tier cities, only 30% avail on campus accommodation, leaving 70% of the students to seek other housing options. The student housing market is projected to continue to grow to a USD 25+ billion per annum by 2025. Though the last two years have been tough on the education sector in particular, Your-Space has tripled the size of their business. The company is on track for their fiscal year projections which is a reaffirmation by the student community and their parents to the business model.
With 7000+ operational beds in 9 cities, Your-Space will have more than 20,000 beds by July 2022 for the coming 2022-2023 academic year.
Shantanu Rastogi has invested in supporting ambitious entrepreneurs who are doing innovative work to serve the large Indian consumption basket. He has immense trust and belief in the Your-Space brand and its mission. On his recent investment in Your-Space, Mr. Shantanu Rastogi, said, “There is a significant unmet need for safe, comfortable, convenient and affordable lodging & community spaces for 30M+ migrant undergrad and post-grad students in India. India being one of the largest suppliers of skilled talent across engineering, medicine, law, finance and several other professions to the world, needs high quality student housing operators to address this large and growing demand alongside high quality universities and institutions.”
Mr. Ajay Gupta of Capital Foods, added, “This segment is growing and has demonstrated growth every year even during economic downturn. The Indian student population base is growing consistently. The future of student housing is going to be driven by technology and building a strong community and Your-Space is at the cusp of bringing about this change.”
