DigsConnect, a South African student accommodation marketplace, has secured an investment from international venture builder, The Delta, as part of their current funding round.
Last year the startup raised US$200,000 grant from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, and recently it signed a deal with the world’s largest student accommodation site, Student.com, allowing it to expand its presence to 30 new countries and 400 new cities. Currently it has over 1.3 million beds listed on its platform, and is expanding its operations into the UK, US, Singapore, and Europe.
“Hundreds of thousands of African students are electing to study abroad, and housing remains one of the primary obstacles for them”, says co-founder and CEO Alexandria Procter.“We will be focusing on providing safe avenues to affordable student accommodation for students from Singapore to Berlin to New York City. The Delta’s global operations and networks provide a springboard into many of these locations.”
The PropTech startup was founded in 2008 has since become the largest student housing platform in Africa, with over 1.3 million beds listed worldwide.
The Delta is the largest venture builder in Africa and one of the largest in Europe, with offices in South Africa, Switzerland, the UK, and Germany. Portfolio ventures within its Capital arm benefit from its 200+ venture-building specialists and international network of founders, entrepreneurs, and investors.
The investment in DigsConnect.com reflects Delta’s plans to support later-stage African startups who are looking to become scaleups and break into other parts of Africa, or expand globally. The SA-founded venture builder plans to launch a multi-hundred million Euro fund by the end of 2022 to support this initiative.
“DigsConnect is a great company, we are excited to have them in our portfolio. I feel that Alex and Greg’s passion for the venture, mixed with the global possibility will make for a great ride!”, says Louis Buys, CEO and founder of The Delta.
DigsConnect.com joins the likes of employee-wellness platform Strove and fintech Revio as part of rising African startups within The Delta’s portfolio.