Student housing startup Stanza Living to invest Rs 250 cr for expansion in 7 new cities

Stanza Living, which is into student housing, has chalked out an investment plan of Rs 250 crore to enter and expand its operations in seven new cities.

Established in 2017, Stanza Living already has operations in Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Jaipur with 12,000 beds. Now, the company has initially launched 10,000 beds in seven new cities -- Hyderabad, Chennai, Coimbatore, Indore, Pune, Baroda and Dehradun.

With entry in these seven cities, the company has reached a national inventory of 22,000 beds across 10 cities. It has set a target to reach over one lakh beds by 2021.

"We have earmarked Rs 250 crore for expansion of our operations in seven new cities," Stanza Living co-founder Anindya Dutta told PTI.

The company has set up 60 hostels comprising 10,000 beds initially in these seven cities and looking to add more, Dutta said.

Stanza Living had posted a ten-fold jump in its revenue to Rs 20 crore during the last fiscal and, is targeting to grow its revenue through expansion.

"We aim to re-imagine student living for the millions of students migrating in the country, with our hassle-free, tech-enabled and service-led housing experience.

"Our entry into these strategic educational hubs is a step towards building a pan-India student living brand, where residents can be assured of comfort, convenience and community experience at transparent rents," Dutta said.

Stanza Living co-founder Sandeep Dalmia said the company offers nutritious food, unlimited laundry, Wi-Fi, professional housekeeping, tech-enabled security and responsive feedback mechanism.

Students in India expect their next place of residence to be an extension of home. Yet, they are often forced to compromise on infrastructure and service quality," he added.

Since its inception in 2017, Stanza Living has raised nearly USD 17 million (Rs 115 crore) from investors. It is backed by marquee global investors like Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, Matrix Partners and Alteria Capital.

India's student housing market received an investment of USD 100 million last year, but the sector has the potential to attract USD 50 billion to meet the current demand-supply gap of 8 million beds, according to property consultant Knight Frank.