Indian co-living and student housing startup Zolostays has raised $56 million Series C funding led by Investcorp, Nexus Ventures Partners, Mirae Assets, Trifecta Capital among others. Zolo has raised $90 million raised in total including this round. Zolo will deploy the new funds to invest in technology, locking in more inventory and strengthening AI-driven operating platforms. The company intends to invest the new funds to continue aggressive growth across the country. Another key avenue of growth for the startup is partnering with developers in conceptualizing ‘built to suit’ co-living spaces. Large developers have partnered with Zolo to provide beautiful and exclusive co-living campuses to people near their workplace. Zolo has more than 5 million square feet worth of ‘built to suit’ discussions underway.
Zolo offers two kinds of models – Zolo Standard and Zolo Select across all its 485+ properties in 10+ cities, which together have a capacity of 40,000 residents. The startup was founded in 2015. Most of the residents at Zolo are young professionals and students, who are moving to a new city from their hometown.
Speaking on the fundraise co-founder and CEO of Zolo Dr. Nikhil Sikri said, “We are creating a personalized living experience keeping the customer at the core. It allows them to personalize the way they live and work, all on their terms. We partner with them as they rewrite their own story and re-imagine life. Our unique approach allows us to enjoy the highest Net Promoter Score (NPS)- a benchmark indicator of customer satisfaction in the industry.”
The ‘co-living’ market in the country is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17% in the next five years to touch nearly INR 1-trillion, according to a report by FICCI and JLL. Among the various cities, Delhi NCR will constitute nearly 40% of this potential market opportunity by 2023, followed by Mumbai at 25%, the report added.
