SA Startup DigsConnect Partners With Student.com to Expand Globally

In a bid to expand its presence globally, South African online student accommodation marketplace DigsConnect has partnered with global site Student.com – the world’s largest student accommodation website in a partnership targeting the growing number of students studying globally. The partnership will let the local startup expand to approximately 30 new countries and 400 new cities in the next six months.

CEO and Founder of Student.com, Luke Nolan, said in a statement:

“Our global network combined with the reach and experience of DigsConnect.com in South Africa will create a strong foundation for growth, especially as South Africa is such a popular student destination. More than anything, this partnership is built from the Student.com and DigsConnect.com culture; we share the same vision and live the same values – it’s exciting to partner together to help even more students globally.”

DigsConnect: Diversified geographic representation will bring in revenue year-round

Founded in 2018 Alexendria Procter and Greg Ramsay-Keal, DigsConnect serves as an accommodation marketplace for South African students. To date, the startup has connected more than 65 000 landlords with tenants. The partnership with Student.com comes after DigsConnect raised an additional investment earlier this year, and the investment aided the startup’s decision to investigate global expansion. Primary growth regions for DigsConnect include the USA, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.

“Growth in the Northern Hemisphere is important due to the academic calendar – with international operations, we’ll be able to take advantage of the academic seasons in both September (Northern Hemisphere) and again in January, our own South African peak period,” DigsConnect CEO Alexandria Procter explained. “This diversified geographic representation gives us multiple seasons a year, allowing us to bring in revenue year-round and have continual feedback cycles to continually improve our product and services.”

Procter added the last 18 months had been tough for South Africa’s property sector thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I believe that part of what this partnership signifies is the student accommodation sector bouncing back, as we gear up to welcome local and foreign students back to our universities, campuses, and country for the 2022 academic year,” she said.