Entrepreneurs
Student.com: Connecting Students to Quality Accommodation Worldwide
Finding a safe, comfortable, and reasonably priced place to live is one of the most demanding but critical tasks for international students. Student.com has already made these processes easier by connecting students with owners in different cities of importance to higher education. Founded in 2011, Student.com has proved to be a reliable platform in helping students find accommodation close to universities and ward off much of the anxiety associated with finding a place in a different country.
Student.com began in 2011 as Overseas Student Living by the company’s founder, Luke Nolan. Nolan used to work in China during which he provided assistance to his friends coming from various countries in searching for students to reside in during the study abroad experience. He highly noted a specific gap within the student accommodation market, especially for international students, who sometimes could not find housing while staying elsewhere in places. Knowing that’s what was needed, Nolan began a solution: a website was designed to link students with vetted landlords worldwide. That would mean a student studying thousands of miles from his family would be able to find safe, comfortable housing.
In 2014, Shakil Khan and John-Paul Jones joined Nolan; consequently, they rebranded in 2015, with global growth being their focus and rolled up multilingual support. Ever since that major rebranding, Student.com saw tremendous growth into new markets and improved offers. By 2015, the platform was listing properties in more than 400 cities and was affiliated with over 1,000 universities from all over the world. Fuelling its expansion, Student.com had in 2016 raised Series B and C funding of $60 million from notable investors like VY Capital, Horizons Ventures, Expa, and industry leaders such as Spotify co-founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon and also Xiaomi’s Hugo Barra.
It has offices in Dubai, UK, China, Hong Kong, the US, Australia, and India. Student.com strategically presents itself to cater to students across diverse regions. Its focus is surely in its niche in the property market: entirely on student housing. With this platform having an interface tailored for needs of students, it avails personalized guidance on navigating housing options, lease terms, and more.
Student.com has student browsing through web-enabled locations using an interactive map to discover accommodations by neighbourhood and proximity to their universities. Filtering by budget, room type, among other preferences enables students to have a personalized experience based on what works for them specifically. The user will see all the details regarding room types available, their amenities, and charges.
Many of the positives stand out with the booking assistance service offered free of charge, where it assigns a personal booking consultant for each user, who will verify all these details mentioned above on tenancy length, roommate preferences, and student status. By partnering itself with professional landlords, it ensures its listings of quality and security for students and peace of mind for parents sending their kids.
The process with students, along with an open process, differs the company from all traditional property platforms. Students are offered free service with revenue being generated through commission on booked property. This model has, therefore, caught the world’s students, particularly international students’ attention, due to its adoption in welcoming help and reliability that Student.com brings to them. The company is actually associated with the creation of friendly student community. Student.com is not just a property marketplace; it offers guidance to lost students amidst the overwhelming sea of competitive excitement and frantic searches for quality housing in over 426 cities around the world.
Funded by investors like Jim Breyer and Horizons Ventures, Student.com achieved niche leadership in student accommodation. The company continues to expand and makes housing for students available and hassle-free. Student.com is dedicated to letting students focus on their studies and not have to battle through housing logistics by taking advantage of global demand and streamlining the process for student accommodation.