Emma Okonji
A real estate startup firm, myPadi.ng, which provides off-campus accommodation for university/college students, has announced its ability to raise seed funding from EchoVC.
The funding will be used to accelerate myPadi’s expansion into more cities, serving more schools, growing the team, and improving their product.
myPadi’s hostel booking platform allows students to discover off-campus accommodation through its listings from verified landlords. The platform provides photographs, virtual tours, pricing, amenities, and reviews.
Prior to myPadi, the hostel discovery process was extremely rigorous given the shortage in supply of on-campus accommodation. Students spent several weeks calling friends and acquaintances, walking long distances or having to rely on unverified roadside agents who often demand large deposits and are sometimes fraudulent. Today with myPadi, this process is streamlined, easy and takes less than one week from start to finish.
“We are very excited about our investment in myPadi and in a market that has been estimated to be worth $20 billion per year. The inadequate supply of student hostels in universities across Africa has created a great need for off-campus student accommodation and myPadi provides an elegantly organized solution to this problem; we see myPadi as the future go-to platform for all student needs.
“We believe that the myPadi team, led by the founder Joel Amawhe, is the right team to execute this vision. We wish them all the best and look forward to working together,†said Uche Ogboi of EchoVC
Founded in 2016, myPadi, formerly Studacom.ng & HostelsVilla.com, was the pitch winner at the #StartupSouth2016 edition. They were also a part of Ventures Platform’s second acceleration programme where they received $20,000 initial funding.
MyPadi was awarded best e-housing startup of the year (2017) by NITDA, represented Nigeria at GITEX 2017 in Dubai and received $5,000 in grant funding plus three months business advisory service from Accenture Nigeria, courtesy of the National Economic Summit 2017. The company has listed 5,000 vetted rooms for students in over 60 tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
