Student housing startup Placio buys Paco Meals, raises seed funding

Noida-based Placio, which operates an eponymous student housing solutions platform, has acquired subscription-based food delivery venture Paco Meals, a company statement said.

Placio also secured $50,000 (Rs 34.5 lakh) in seed funding from undisclosed external investors that will go towards the new food business, the statement added.

The acquisition equips Placio to develop menus by culinary professionals from Paco Meals’ network and to also offer food delivery services for students.

As part of the transaction, Paco Meals’ co-founders Nitin Joshi and Parul Tusele will join Placio, a company spokesperson said.

Currently, the domain name of ‘pacomeals’ is up for sale, its online web address link revealed.

“The good news is that Placio now extends this outlook to even students living in non-Placio properties. Taking over Paco Meals will now make us realize our dreams—by unrestricted provision of meals to all students,” Rohit Pateria and Ankush Arora, co-founders of Placio, said in the statement.

The deal comes six months after Placio raised $2 million in a pre-Series A round from Singapore-based private equity fund Prestellar Ventures.

Founded in 2016 by Joshi and Tusele, Noida-based Paco Meals offered tiffin services to bachelors and students at subsidised prices through its platform.

Operated by Rental Stay Pvt. Ltd, Placio was set up in 2016 by Pateria, a chartered accountant, and Arora, a former executive at Sharekhan and Angel Broking. The startup curates modern living spaces, fully-furnished rooms, private rooms and personal apartments in localities in and around university campuses with adequate amenities. Placio, which was incubated at the Amity Business Incubator, currently manages over 15 properties.

Deals in the space

Other startups offering student accommodation services have recently garnered investor interest.

Last November, Delhi-based student accommodation platform Stanza Living had raised an undisclosed amount in its first institutional funding round co-led by Matrix Partners and Accel.

In March 2017, TurningIdeas Solutions-incubated student housing startup Your-space had raised $500,000 in angel funding.

In December 2016, Campus Students Communities Pvt. Ltd, a Bengaluru-based startup providing student housing under the Campusville brand, had raised Series A funding from an institutional investor.