TurningIdeas Solutions-incubated student housing startup Your-space has raised $500,000 (around Rs 3.3 crore) in angel funding to expand its premium student housing venture, the incubator's co-founder Ashish Mittal told VCCircle.
The investment was made by high-net worth individuals (HNIs) and angel investors belonging to real estate and hospitality sectors in India and abroad, Mittal said without disclosing their names.
Your-space is run by Ashimara Housing Pvt. Ltd. The startup, which launched its first hostel in Greater Noida in July 2016, was founded by Shubha Lal, Karan Kaushish and Nidhi Kumra.
The founders themselves have lived in hostels when they were studying, Mittal said. So, they appreciate the importance of having a clean, serviced and home-like place to come back to at the end of the day.
“Your-space serves as a safe residence for young, bright students,†said Kaushish. “Moreover, the name of the establishment ‘Your-space’ is carefully chosen—it is primarily, your home,†Jain explained the idea behind the name.
The company follows an asset light model by leasing properties. However, it aims to offer similar amenities across its hostels.
The firm aims to more than double its capacity and expand in other educational hubs in the NCR region like Delhi University's north and south campuses and Noida.
Over 80% of students securing a college admission are looking for accommodation outside campus hostels. This market, estimated to be worth around Rs 20,000 crore annually, remains largely unorganised and led by small mom and pop operations, Mittal noted.
The student hostel space has been attracting investor activity. Last year in December, Campus Students Communities Pvt. Ltd (CSC), a Bengaluru-based company that provides student housing under the Campusville brand, raised Series A funding from an institutional investor.
Later in February this year, VCCircle reported that Campusville is in advanced stages of discussion with an institutional investor to raise its Series B round of funding.
Last year, social venture capital investor Acumen also invested an undisclosed amount in Aarusha Homes Pvt. Ltd, which runs a chain of low-budget hostels for students and migrant workers.
TurningIdeas Solutions
The incubation and acceleration platform also launched its angel investor network, TurningIdeas Venture Partners (TVP), to back technology-oriented startups last year.
The angel fund, which has a total corpus of RS 33 crore ($5 million), will be investing in 10 startups, Mittal told VCCircle last year.
The company claimed that the network will work on the lines of Indian Angel Network (IAN) and the applications from startups will be processed by TVP, which will carry out initial due diligence and legal checks as well as establish the financial framework.
Prior to launching the angel investor network, TurningIdeas already invested in some startups. It backed AskMyGift — a mobile app that allows users to create a personalised wish list for gifts — by investing an undisclosed amount in the company. It also invested in digital seller management startup Focus Digit.
Like this report? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get our top reports.
