Adventum Student Living (ASL), a study-abroad platform that owns the UniAcco, UniCreds and UniScholars brands, announced that it has raised $5 million (around Rs 40 crore) in a bridge round led by Cornerstone Venture Partners Fund (CSVP), an investment firm set up by former Reliance Industries executives Abhishek Prasad and Rajiv Vaishnav. Existing investors also participated in the round, which is a bridge to Adventum’s proposed Series B fundraising of $20 million, the company said in a statement.
With the new fundraising, the Mumbai-based company plans to continue its mission of transforming the student lifecycle while expanding its product offerings to meet the needs of students, universities, educators, and administrators. It also plans to strengthen its position and build deeper partnerships in the UK, EU, Canada, Australia, and USA geographies.
Founded in 2019 by Amit Singh and Sayantan Biswas, Adventum helps students to find accommodation and education loans via its online platforms – UniAcco, UniCreds and UniScholars. The platform also allows students to pursue overseas higher education with various services. The startup aims to reduce the dependency of students on career counsellors, student loan consultants and accommodation providers.
UniScholars is a platform for test preparation, counselling, university applications, course shortlisting and visa assistance through over 100 expert counsellors. UniCreds provides affordable education loans in multiple currencies, whereas UniAcco helps students find accommodation.
Speaking about the company, Founder & CEO of ASL, Amit Singh, said:
Despite the economic challenges brought on by COVID-19, when many of our peers were struggling for survival, our business soared through the market turbulence and achieved an impressive 300 per cent y-o-y growth since then. We will continue to unify student journeys on our platform and strengthen our product portfolio across geographies.
According to ASL, UniScholars has successfully placed students in more than 100 universities worldwide, providing counselling and support services throughout the admissions process. It claims that UniCreds has facilitated over $100 million in education loans through banking and NBFC partners. UniAcco has over 3.5 million student accommodation beds in the UK, EU, Canada, and Australia. Together, these three platforms provide a comprehensive set of resources to support students in various aspects of their study abroad journey, and it has facilitated 500K students since its inception.
Adding further about the platform, Co-founder of ASL, Sayantan Biswas, said:
In a time of market uncertainty, our existing and new investors have placed huge trust in us. We are committed to leveraging the funds received towards providing a seamless experience to students by evolving with their changing needs. Our primary focus will now be profitability and organic growth for all three brands.
Vatsal Bavishi, Investment Director, Cornerstone Ventures, commented:
We love the execution capability and student-first approach of the founding team. It’s the only platform that has truly and successfully unified the entire student lifecycle, from application to accommodation and beyond at every step. Its hyper-personalised approach ensures that a student remains on the platform throughout its educational journey of 4-5 years and potentially expands into their early career as well. Its enterprise pricing model, recurring revenues and profitable unit economics excited us to be a part of their journey.
Last year, Adventum raised $5 million as growth capital in a funding round led by pharma company Idea Cures’ founder Suresh Pareek.
