Student Co-living Startup Stanza Living Raises $10 Mn in Funding led by Sequoia India

Delhi headquartered Stanza Living, a tech-enabled co-living concept startup which is re-imagining student housing in India, has raised a total of Rs 73 crore (USD 10 million) in an investment round led by Sequoia India. This is in addition to Rs 13 crores (USD 2 million) that the company had raised in its first round of institutional funding from Matrix and Accel Partners in November 2017.
With the funding in place, Stanza Living will focus on strengthening its three key business pillars of technology, people and network of operations. The startup is also aiming to strengthen its position as one of India’s largest student co-living companies.
Technology is at the centre of Stanza Living’s business and is one of its core differentiators. The fresh funding will be channelled to bolster the company’s tech engine that drives effectiveness in project management, efficiency in business operations and enables personalised service delivery. Stanza Living will further leverage the funding to expand to multiple markets and strengthen its core leadership team while onboarding specialised talent across functions.
 
Commenting on the funding, Anindya Dutta, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Stanza Living, said, “The student housing segment in India offers immense potential but remains largely unorganised. We are determined to transform this segment by offering a professionally-managed co-living experience that mirror international standards. We currently operate 15+ residences in Delhi NCR with a total capacity of 2000 beds. The funding will enable us to unlock multiple opportunities that we’ve identified across important educational hubs and exponentially grow the Stanza community across the country.”
“Marquee global players investing in Stanza Living underlines the confidence the investor community has in our business model,” said Sandeep Dalmia, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Stanza Living.
“We understand that a student’s lifestyle is extremely distinct. Our industry-first, full-stack business model fundamentally enables us to design our co-living spaces and tailor our services to cater to their specific needs and desires. It allows us to set up and manage end-to-end operations which we believe is absolutely critical to ensure an unmatched experience for our residents,” he added.
“Stanza’s team and their execution is impressive, and Sequoia India is delighted to partner with them in their vision to provide quality housing to students in India. Student housing is an established asset class in the west and we believe Stanza, with its scalable business model and strong economics, can create the asset class in India”, said Ashish Agrawal, Principal, Sequoia Capital India Advisors.
Gourav Bhattacharya, Director, Matrix India, commented “We are very excited about the progress the Stanza team has made over the last 12 months, and think they have a unique opportunity to create a large company by organizing the student housing space. Their approach is a win-win for students and parents through better experience, as well as supply owners through better economics. We are delighted to continue supporting Anindya and Sandeep on their journey.”
Abhinav Chaturvedi, Principal at Accel added, “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Stanza Living. In a short period of time, Stanza has become the go-to place for student accommodation in Delhi/NCR. The new money will help expand the Stanza brand to other parts of the Indian market.”
Stanza Living is challenging the status quo when it comes to student community living through dedicated programmes like ‘Stanza Springboard’, which focuses on providing career enhancement opportunities, and ‘Stanza Social’, centred around year-long community engagement events as well as exclusive discounted access to a curated list of restaurants, brands and experiences.
In July this year, StayAbode, an another co-living spaces startup, had raised funding for an undisclosed amount from Anupam Mittal (CEO, People Group) and Vineet Sekhsaria (Head, Real Estate investing, Morgan Stanley) and Japanese gaming company Akatsuki Inc.
Last November, Stanza Living had raised ₹13 Crore in its first round of institutional funding via Matrix Partners and Accel Partners.
Stanza Living was co-founded by Sandeep Dalmia and Anindya Dutta in 2017. Dalmia is an alumnus of Delhi College of Engineering and IIM Ahmedabad. Prior to Stanza, he was a Principal at Boston Consulting Group. Dutta was previously a Real Estate investor with Oaktree Capital and prior to that, he worked at Goldman Sachs In London. He is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and IIM Ahmedabad.
Stanza Living is a tech-enabled co-living concept which is re-imagining student housing in India by transforming it into an experience product, in-line with evolved hospitality sectors like hotels and serviced apartments. From smart-space planning in residences to gamifying delivery of food for operational effectiveness, from exclusive community engagement programmes to delivering reliable and standardized services through technology integration, Stanza Living operates with a full-stack business model that puts students at the heart of its product and service design, development and execution. The company currently operates in Delhi-NCR and plans to expand its presence across multiple student markets in the country in the coming months.
In India, Stanza Living competes with Delhi-based Placio, StayAbode, StudentAcco and also Zolo, which caters to PG segment. Placio had raised $2 million in pre-series-A funding from Prestellar Ventures, a Singapore-based private equity, while Zolo had raised $5 million from Nexus Venture Partners, in January 2017.
Source: IndianWeb2
To Read Our Daily News Updates, Please visit Inventiva or Subscribe Our Newsletter & Push.