Managed accommodation company Stanza Living has acquired Delhi-based YourShell, a student accommodation brand focussed on customers in the national capital region.
YourShell, operated by Lofty Ventures Pvt. Ltd, said in a statement the two companies had been in talks since late last year for a deal that has now culminated. It didn’t disclose financial terms but said it was operationally profitable.
The company was set up in 2017 by Sunny Garg, Shaifali Jain, Vishesh Khunger, Gaurav Verma and Vartika Sharma. It manages 600 beds across 18 properties. It also offers students access to libraries, gymnasiums and career counselling sessions.
“When we learned that they [Stanza Living] were looking at strategic acquisitions for growth, we believed it was the ideal time to pass on the reigns to the experienced team at Stanza Living and become a part of their rapid-scale story,” Jain said.
Stanza Living was founded by Anindya Dutta and Sandeep Dalmia in 2017. As of March this year, the company had an inventory of more than 55,000 beds across the National Capital Region, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai and Coimbatore. It offers furnished accommodations for students, especially those relocating to a new city.
The acquisition comes after Stanza Living raised an undisclosed sum in March as part of its Series C round from Sam Zell-backed Equity International, Falcon Edge Capital, Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners and Accel.
In December last year, the company raised $5.7 million (around Rs 40.43 crore) in venture debt from Alteria Capital. 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 round led by Sequoia. Matrix and Accel also participated in that round. Before that, the co-living startup raised Rs 13 crore from Matrix and Accel in November 2017.
