Peer-to-peer university recruitment platform Unibuddy raises $20 million

It’s been a while since my university and post-grad days, but I can quite vividly remember the selection process. “Do they have this? Is there a course on this? What’s a typical day of classes like?” Oh to have a service such as Unibuddy on board. The London startup which provides exactly this type of information has raised $20 million to fuel efforts in the US and APAC regions, aiming to serve 10 million students by 2025. To date, the startup has raised $32 million.

With the traditional university campus visit out the window due to a certain global situation, Unibuddy’s unique service saw an uptick of 190%, a number that helped the firm (almost) triple revenue figures.

This number is only part of a larger trend, with 13% of colleges and universities actively engaging in digital transformation efforts, 32% are working to develop a digital transformation strategy, and 38% are “exploring” digital transformation. Doing the maths, this then leaves Unibuddy with 17% of all colleges and universities (surveyed) as potential partners.

Thus far, Unibuddy has approximately 450 higher education customers on board across 35 countries. In addition to students gaining real-world insight into a prospective institution, the same institution has a greater chance of attracting a larger and more diverse student population and increased enrollment applications.

With the startup’s home market being its largest, Unibuddy counts more than 80% of local institutions under its wing including the University of Cambridge, Imperial College, and King’s College London.

“There are so many factors college-bound students must take into consideration when making one of the most important decisions in their lives,’ commented Student Recruitment Manager at Imperial College Anum Akhtar. We’re proud to partner with Unibuddy to better understand our applicants, increase engagement and help us achieve our recruitment objectives in a challenging market. With Unibuddy 47% of new prospects went on to apply after chatting with an ambassador.”

Unibuddy’s Series-B round was led by Highland Europe with follow-on investment made by Stride.VC.