Study-abroad startup ASL raises $5 million funding from CSVP Fund, others

Adventum Student Living (ASL), a study-abroad platform that owns the UniAcco, UniCreds and UniScholars brands, said on Monday that it raised $5 million in a bridge equity round led by a new investor, Cornerstone Venture Partners Fund (CSVP Fund).

The other participants in the funding round were returning investors, the names of which the company declined to share in response to ET’s request for comment.

The Mumbai-based startup’s Series-B round proposes to raise $20 million, the statement added.


The company, founded in 2019, had previously raised $5 million, in a round dubbed pre-series-B, from investors including Suresh Pareek, founder and managing director of pharmaceutical company Ideal Cures, and EuroKids cofounder Vikas Phadnis’ Auctus Capital.

The proceeds from the latest round will help ASL expand its product offerings to meet the needs of students, universities, educators, and administrators, it said in a news release. Part of it will also be used for building deeper partnerships in the UK, the European Union, Canada, Australia and the YS.

ASL assists students in their application-to-accommodation requirements with a digital-first approach. To date, the platform has helped more than half a million students, it claimed.

The international student education market, the release said, is estimated to be worth $200 billion, with tuition fees (about 40%) and accommodation (about 25%) the largest categories. Globally, 6-7 million students travel abroad for higher studies, it said.

In terms of scale, the company said UniScholars has placed students in over 100 universities worldwide, providing counselling and support services throughout the admissions process.

“Its hyper-personalised approach ensures that a student remains on the platform throughout his educational journey of 4-5 years and potentially expands into their early career as well. Its enterprise pricing model, recurring revenues and profitable unit economics excited us to be a part of their journey,” said Vatsal Bavishi, investment director at CSVP Fund.

Education loans and student beds

UniCreds, an extended arm of UniScholars, has facilitated over $100 million in education loans through banking and non-banking financial company partners, the news release said.

UniAcco, the other arm of UniScholars, offers an inventory of over 3.5 million student accommodation beds in the UK, EU, Canada and Australia, working with property owners.

“Despite the economic challenges brought on by Covid-19, when many of our peers were struggling for survival, our business soared through the market turbulence and has achieved an impressive 300% y-o-y growth since then”, said Amit Singh, founder and CEO of ASL.

Singh, formerly with Standard Chartered Asset Management and Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, cofounded ASL with Sayantan Biswas, who previously founded branded rental homes startup Fella Homes.