South African online student accommodation marketplace DigsConnect has entered into an agreement with global student accommodation site Student.com, in a collaboration that will see the start-up expand globally.
This follows an investment raise early this year, which aided DigsConnect’s decision to now set up a presence in approximately 30 new countries and 400 new cities across the globe within the next six months.
The online platform was founded in 2018 by CEO Alexandria Procter, head of technology Brendan Ardagh and head of marketing Greg Ramsay-Keal.
DigsConnect offers a web-based service to students and landlords, matching students to suitable accommodation in the areas around universities and colleges.
The platform says it has to date connected more than 65 000 landlords and tenants.Students are able to make use of the DigsConnect platform to create accounts, filter their searches by prices, as well as the type of accommodation they prefer. In addition, students are able to advertise for housemates on the site.
“The last 18 months have been tough for the property sector in South Africa, which has been among the hardest hit due to COVID,” notes Procter.
“I believe that part of what this partnership signifies is that the student accommodation sector is bouncing back, as we gear up to welcome local and foreign students back to our universities, campuses and country for the 2022 academic year.”
In 2019, DigsConnect secured a R12 million seed investment round, which saw it later partner with tertiary institution Varsity College.
Through the collaboration, DigsConnect provides students with an online platform to access varying types of safe accommodation options within an 8km radius of all eight of the Varsity College campuses.
Headquartered in Dubai, Student.com helps students across the globe to find residential accommodation closer to where they are studying. It has offices in the UK, China, Hong Kong, US, India and Australia.
According to Procter, the primary growth regions for DigConnect include the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific.
The new partnership will open up a gateway between Africa and the rest of the world, to enable access to higher education globally for African students with dreams of pursuing higher education in any of the major European, American or Australian cities, she says.
“Growth in the Northern Hemisphere is important due to the academic calendar. With international operations, we’ll be able to take advantage of the academic seasons in both September and again in January – our own South African peak period.
“This diversified geographic representation gives us multiple seasons a year, allowing us to bring in revenue year-round and have continual feedback cycles to continually improve our product and services.”
Luke Nolan, CEO and founder of Student.com, comments: “Our global network, combined with the reach and experience of DigsConnect.com in South Africa, will create a strong foundation for growth, especially as South Africa is such a popular student destination.
“More than anything, this partnership is built from the Student.com and DigsConnect.com culture; we share the same vision and live the same values. It’s exciting to partner together to help even more students globally.”
Share