Edtech startup secures $20m to transform peer-to-peer university recruitment

A London-based global edtech startup has secured multi-million dollar investment to “disrupt” the university admissions process.

Peer-to-peer university recruitment platform Unibuddy has raised $20m to continue its global expansion.

The Series B round was led by Highland Europe, with additional participation from tech fund Stride.VC.

Unibuddy has created a virtual window into the higher education experience for the digitally native Gen Z community. When exploring a university’s website, applicants from around the world can chat with existing students and staff in real-time about a variety of topics.

The firm, which is based in London, has raised a total of USD $32m since its inception in 2017, and follows a record-breaking year that saw the company almost triple its revenues.

Diego Fanara, co-founder and CEO of Unibuddy, commented: “By 2025, our goal is to partner with institutions to empower 10 million students to progress on their higher education journey.

“We will triple the size of our engineering team, expanding our product suite and with it, our role in the higher education journey - from selecting a program, to onboarding to post-graduation.

“In particular, the team will double down on efforts in the United States and APAC where there is a strong appetite for university admissions and recruitment teams to engage with both domestic and international students.”

Fergal Mullen, partner at Highland Europe, commented: “The higher education market is projected to reach almost $118bn USD by 2027 and areas such as recruitment and retention are ripe for innovation.

“Unibuddy’s impressive list of institutional partners and growing participation from students around the world are indicative of the platform’s impact on university marketing and recruitment.

“We know from conversations with many University administrators that Unibuddy delivers significant benefits by enabling them to more effectively target suitable student applicants and to improve yield on offers made.

“We also noted that Unibuddy positively impacts first-year retention which is a huge win for Universities. We’re excited to invest in disruptive products such as Unibuddy and the ambitious teams behind them.”

Fred Destin of Stride.VC added, “Unibuddy empowers students to take that life-changing leap of faith, to build the confidence to go study anywhere in the world their talent takes them.

“At Stride.VC that’s a mission we are happy to double down on and put both our name and capital behind.”