Noida-based student housing startup, Placio, announced that it has raised $2 million in a pre-series A funding round from Singapore-based private equity fund, Prestellar Ventures. The company plans to use the funds to provide a finer student living experience in India and South East Asia. According to ET, the startup will also leverage on the network and experience of the fund to redefine the student hospitality sector by increasing the existing capacity by 20 times this year.

“Placio has been able to address the needs of the rapidly expanding college student population of India- by providing safe, clean, amenity-filled housing with a strong community and technology backbone. The company has been able to grow its footprint so far with limited resources and we hope to provide the company with capital and our in-house platform for its next phase of exponential growth,” Rabindra Shrestha, Managing Partner, Prestellar Ventures said.

The startup was co-founded in March 2016 by Rohit Pateria and Ankush Arora. Its digital platform provides a compiled list of modern living spaces, fully furnished rooms and personal apartments in the surrounding localities of a particular university campus. The startup was incubated by The Amity Business Incubator.

“Student housing is an interesting growth sector, as there is an immense undersupply 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. This, we believe will change the way the students live and study for academic success,” Rohit Pateria, CEO, Placio said.

(Picture courtesy: Twitter)