Placio raises USD 2 mn in pre-series A funding

New Delhi : Noida-based student housing startup Placio on Thursday announced that it has raised pre-series A funding for USD two million from a Singapore-based private equity fund, Prestellar Ventures.

Aiming to provide superior student living experience in India and south-east Asia, Placio will leverage the network in redefining the student hostel hospitality sector by increasing the existing capacity upto 20 times this year.

With this fund, Placio plans to acquire additional beds in order to provide a seamless technology platform to students with features including hostel management system, roommate matching and search, value added services like food ordering, booking of events, CRM system via in-house mobile wallet.

"Placio is a highly scalable venture whose IT enabled processes provide an organized structure in a highly fragmented industry. We will work alongside the very competent Placio team and offer significant value adds through the hospitality arm of CG Group," said Atim Kabra from the board of directors and investment committee of Prestellar Ventures.

"Student housing is a an interesting growth sector, as there is an immense under supply of such purpose-built accommodation in India. I can confidently say, that this is where hospitality meets business keeping in mind our vision is to entirely redefine 'student living' by creating boundary-blurring spaces and colourful experiences to connect and thrive in smart design co-living," said co-founder and CEO, Placio, Rohit Pateria.

The total number of beds in campus housing and private hostels currently available in India is close to 6.1 million.

This is an untapped market with about 50 million students studying in colleges and universities and about 60 to 65 percent of them studying outside their home town.

With the funding now in place, Placio intends to capitalise on this potential market.

"Placio is a complete broker-free platform that inspires community living where for us our consumers experience is more important than simply providing housing for students," co-founder and COO, Placio, Ankush Arora added.