Uniplaces moves into $24m

Uniplaces, a student accommodation startup launched by classmates who met at Nottingham University and King’s College London, has secured $24m in its series A.

The startup, launched in 2012 by the three Portuguese students, saw its series A led by venture capital firm Atomico. Existing investors Octopus Ventures and Shilling Capital, which previously invested in a $3.5m round for Uniplaces, also joined the round, as did new investor Caixa Capital and a number of angels.

The platform, which allows students to browse currently available properties and includes properties verified by the company itself, now operates in 38 cities and offers 40,000 rooms at present. Since launch, the site has helped landlords raise more than $25m.

Miguel Santo Amaro, co-founder of Uniplaces, told news provider Techcrunch: “We’ll be investing in developing our platform and growing our product team. Obviously, we want to keep improving the experience of our users and continue to innovate to enhance our product leadership. A key part of our product strategy will be developing our mobile proposition, which we will be investing in heavily. That’s the tech part. In terms of geographic expansion we look to consolidate our market position in the key 9 European countries where we are operational (UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland, Austria, Portugal, Netherlands). Of course we always have an eye on new market opportunities, although we favour building our business off a solid foundation in core markets. USA, Australia, China, and Brazil already represent important markets for us on the demand side and we are excited to develop our position in these markets.”