Equity International, founded by American real estate titan Sam Zell, has placed its second India bet on shared property startup Stanza Living.
The US private equity firm, which has backed real estate and hospitality ventures around the world, placed its first India bet on Gurugram-based Samhi Hotels Ltd, which owns the largest number of Marriott, InterContinental Hotels Group, and Hyatt hotels in the country.
In December last year, Samhi received regulatory nod to float an initial public offering (IPO). At that time, it was reported that Equity International was expected to sell roughly one-fourth of its stake in the proposed offering.
This investment in New Delhi-based Stanza Living, operated by Dtwelve Spaces Pvt. Ltd, is part of its Series C round. Other participants include existing investors Falcon Edge Capital, Sequoia India, Matrix and Accel.
The transaction amount is not known. VCCircle has reached out to student-focused Stanza Living for details.
The company was founded by Anindya Dutta and Sandeep Dalmia in 2017.
“Stanza Living addresses the under-served demand for high-quality, standardised housing in a market with a migrant millennial population of about 20 million,” said Equity International chief executive Tom Heneghan.
Dutta said shared living was a fast-evolving asset class in the country with the potential to grow over four times over the next decade.
Stanza Living maintains an inventory of more than 55,000 beds across territories such as the National Capital Region, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai and Coimbatore.
The company offers furnished accommodations for students, especially those relocating to a new city. Its managed properties also offer common spaces for recreation and networking, besides food.
The Series C funding comes after the company raised $5.7 million (around Rs 40.43 crore) in venture debt from Alteria Capital in December last year.
That infusion took the total debt capital it has raised from Alteria to around $10 million; it had mobilised $4.3 million from the Mumbai-based venture debt firm in early 2019.
In September 2018, Stanza Living raised Rs 73 crore in a fresh round led by Sequoia. Matrix Partners and Accel also participated in that round.
Before that, the co-living startup raised Rs 13 crore from Matrix and Accel in November 2017.