Started in January 2015 by Saurabh Arora ( Founder & CEO ) and joined by his colleague Mayank Maheshwari (Co- founder & COO ), Noida-based
University Living is a housing marketplace for International students. The startup is bridging the gap that exist in the overseas student accommodation market across the globe.
University Living has built the platform for the International students to discover, compare and book the perfect accommodation during their University tenure from their native country itself. University Living have a presence in UK, Australia, Dubai, Singapore & now expanding to US and other global education hubs like Canada, Germany and other part of European countries.
In an interaction with Sujata Sangwan of BW Disrupt, Saurabh Arora, Founder & CEO, University Living, shared journey of his company.
Excerpts from the interview:
What are the special key features of University Living?University Living is a tech-enabled platform where student can discover, search, compare and book their accommodation right from the comfort of their home. It is providing one stop shop to international students where their post admission services are taken care of by counsellors which are verified and curated. It is comprises large portfolio of 3,50,000 beds, covering 50+ International cities and 750 + Global Universities.
University Living has well established and close knitted network of overseas counsellors, institutions in Indian Sub-continent. It has plethora of options, flexible contracts and payment options with 24*7 assistance over chat, email and phone with at no extra cost as the company don’t change for its services. The firm is providing one stop shop to International students where their post admission services are taken care of by counsellors which are verified and curated.
Who is your biggest competitor and how are you different from them? There are few players which exit in this segment including Chinese firm student.com and regional firm Uniplaces and other couple sub-standard players. So we have one of the kind startup and got first mover advantage in Indian Subcontinent market with great mixture of product and services and creating a niche for ourselves.
How much amount of funding University Living raised till now? What is your monetization model? We have been bootstrapped and grew organically. We are in advanced talks with couple of investors for funding and the deal is expected to be closed by end of this year. We do not charge from our students, our primary revenue comes from our preferred accommodation partners in terms of referral commission. We are currently developing our mobile application which includes features like match making, replacement finder etc. which will be chargeable for students.
What are the traction details? We have partnered with almost all the biggest Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) providers across the world. Also we have established a close network of Overseas counsellors in Indian Subcontinent. The company has assisted more than 6000 + International Students which comprises of 30 % of students outside India and rest domestic Indian students from across the country.
How do you look at expansion? Currently we are covering more than 50 + International Cities, 750 + Global Universities and got presence in 5 countries; and by the end of 2017 we plan to have our presence in 100 + cities, 2000 + Global Universities and want to operate in all the popular University City across the globe. Our long term plan for next 3-5 years is to have a focus on our core activity of providing accommodation and get more deeper into this space but along with this we have started adding more ancillary revenue drivers like Forex & Guarantor assistance and partnering with other complimentary services like sim cards, flights, travel insurance, loan assistance. We are also working on baggage and providing concierge services once our student arrived in their chosen city and country.
What is the market size and opportunity? We are looking at huge market of 10 million + International students who are seeking University education abroad or in their native country. Currently we are focusing on 7,50,000 Indian students going abroad to study every year plus students going to do internship, exchange programs. Also we eyeing 5 million International student across the globe enrolling in Global Universities in various cities.
We found 20% of University student stays in purpose built student accommodation( PBSA ). We are targeting and well on track to do 25000 students in next 3 years.Our long term target is to achieve 1 lakh international students in next 5-7 years. So we are looking at potential revenue of $105 million.
