Matrix- backed Stanza Living raises INR 73 crore (USD 10 million)

New Delhi, September 25, 2018: Stanza Living, a tech-enabled co-living concept which reimagines accommodation for students in India, has raised INR 73 crore (USD 10 million) in an investment round led by Sequoia India with participation from existing investors Matrix Partners India and Accel Partners. This is in addition to INR 13 crores (USD 2 million) that the company had raised in its first round of institutional funding from Matrix Partners India and Accel Partners in November 2017.

The funds will be used to further establish its position as one of India's largest student co-living companies, with a focus on strengthening its three key business pillars of technology, people and network of operations.

Technology is at the centre of Stanza Living's business and is one of its core differentiators. The fresh funding will be channelled to bolster the company's tech engine that drives effectiveness in project management, efficiency in business operations and enables personalised service delivery. Stanza Living will further leverage the funding to expand to multiple markets and strengthen its core leadership team while onboarding specialised talent across functions.

Commenting on the funding, Anindya Dutta, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Stanza Living, said, "The student housing segment in India offers immense potential but remains largely unorganised. We are determined to transform this segment by offering a professionally-managed co-living experience that mirror international standards. We currently operate 15+ residences in Delhi NCR with a total capacity of 2000 beds. The funding will enable us to unlock multiple opportunities that we've identified across important educational hubs and exponentially grow the Stanza community across the country.'

"Marquee global players investing in Stanza Living underlines the confidence the investor community has in our business model,' said Sandeep Dalmia, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Stanza Living. "We understand that a student's lifestyle is extremely distinct. Our industry-first, full-stack business model fundamentally enables us to design our co-living spaces and tailor our services to cater to their specific needs and desires. It allows us to set up and manage end-to-end operations which we believe is absolutely critical to ensure an unmatched experience for our residents,' he added.

"Stanza's team and their execution is impressive, and Sequoia India is delighted to partner with them in their vision to provide quality housing to students in India. Student housing is an established asset class in the west and we believe Stanza, with its scalable business model and strong economics, can create the asset class in India', said Ashish Agrawal, Principal, Sequoia Capital India Advisors

Abhinav Chaturvedi, Principal at Accel added, "We are delighted to continue our partnership with Stanza Living. In a short period of time, Stanza has become the go-to place for student accommodation in Delhi/NCR. The new money will help expand the Stanza brand to other parts of the Indian market."

Gourav Bhattacharya, Director, Matrix India, commented "We are very excited about the progress the Stanza team has made over the last 12 months, and think they have a unique opportunity to create a large company by organizing the student housing space. Their approach is a win-win for students and parents through better experience, as well as supply owners through better economics. We are delighted to continue supporting Anindya and Sandeep on their journey.'

Stanza Living is challenging the status quo when it comes to student community living through dedicated programmes like '˜Stanza Springboard', which focuses on providing career enhancement opportunities, and '˜Stanza Social', centred around year-long community engagement events as well as exclusive discounted access to a curated list of restaurants, brands and experiences.

About Stanza Living:
Stanza Living (www.stanzaliving.com) is a tech-enabled co-living concept which is reimagining student housing in India by transforming it into an experience product, in-line with evolved hospitality sectors like hotels and serviced apartments. From smart-space planning in residences to gamifying delivery of food for operational effectiveness, from exclusive community engagement programmes to delivering reliable and standardized services through technology integration, Stanza Living operates with a full-stack business model that puts students at the heart of its product and service design, development and execution. The company currently operates in Delhi-NCR and plans to expand its presence across multiple student markets in the country in the coming months.

About the Founders:
Stanza Living was co-founded by Sandeep Dalmia and Anindya Dutta in 2017. Dalmia is an alumnus of Delhi College of Engineering and IIM Ahmedabad. Prior to Stanza, he was a Principal at Boston Consulting Group. Dutta was previously a Real Estate investor with Oaktree Capital and prior to that, he worked at Goldman Sachs In London. He is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and IIM Ahmedabad.

About Sequoia Capital India Advisors:
As the "Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs,' the Sequoia US team has worked closely with legendary founders such as Steve Jobs, Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk, Brian Acton and Jan Koum, Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner. Our partner entrepreneurs in India include Amit and Anurag Jain, Girish Mathrubootham, Byju Raveendran, Jaspreet Singh, Darshan and Dipam Patel, Alan Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam, Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah among others.Sequoia is now helping the next generation of innovators build the lasting companies of tomorrow. To find out more visit sequoiacap.com/india

About Accel:
Accel is a leading early and growth-stage venture capital firm powering a global community of entrepreneurs. Accel backs entrepreneurs who have what it takes to build a world-class, category-defining business. Founded in 1983, Accel brings more than three decades of experience building and supporting hundreds of companies. Accel has backed a number of iconic global platforms, including Atlassian, Braintree, BookMyShow, Cloudera, Dropbox, Etsy, Facebook, Flipkart, FreshDesk, MuSigma, Myntra, Ola-TaxiForSure, Slack, Spotify and others. For more information, please visit us at accel.com, or on facebook.com/accel

About Matrix Partners India:
Matrix Partners India is an investment firm with INR 4,500 crores under management. Founded in 2006, the firm invests in companies targeting the Indian consumer and enterprise market at the seed, early and early growth stages. Matrix India has invested in several market leading companies such as Ola (local transportation), Quikr (online classifieds), Practo (digital health platform), Dailyhunt (mobile local language platform), Treebo (digital hotel chain), Limeroad (social e-commerce platform), Mswipe (mobile POS), Five Star Business Finance (SME lending), OfBusiness (credit led B2B marketplace) and Belong (recruitment platform) among others. Matrix India has advisory offices in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai. Matrix Partners has a global network of funds investing in the US, China and India. Further information is available at www.matrixpartners.in