Stanza Living, a New Delhi-based student accommodation start-up, has raised about Rs 73 crore ($10 million) in an investment round led by Sequoia India. This is in addition to Rs 13 crore ($2 million) that the company had raised in its first round of institutional funding from Matrix and Accel Partners in November 2017.
The latest round of funding saw participation from existing investors Matrix and Accel Partners. The company will use the funds to strengthen its technology, people and network of operations, it said in a statement.
“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 mirrors international standards,” Anindya Dutta, Managing Director and Co-Founder at Stanza Living said.
“We currently operate more than 15 residences in Delhi NCR with a total capacity of 2,000 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,” Dutta added.
The fresh funding will be used to bolster the company’s tech engine that drives effectiveness in project management, 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 on-boarding specialised talent across functions.
“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.
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 with Goldman Sachs in London.