Education Technology firm supported by UCL raises $20m in funding

UCL-backed student recruitment platform, Unibuddy has received $20m (£14.5m) in funding to help fuel its global expansion. UCL alumnus, Kimeshan Naidoo and co-founder, Diego Fanara, founded Unibuddy in 2015 after moving to the UK for university and realising the difficulties of adapting to a new country as a student. The edtech company allows prospective university applicants to build meaningful connections with existing students and staff through chat, live events and top-tier partnerships with  universities or higher education organisations , in order to recruit and engage them. Popular discussions on the Unibuddy platform include issues such as fitting in, programmes of study, employability and admissions requirements. Universities pay a subscription fee to use the service and the team has seen revenue almost quadruple over the pandemic. As a result, Unibuddy has now raised an impressive $20m in funding in a series B round led by Highland Europe, with further participation from Stride.VC. The site now works with more than 450 institutions in 35 countries worldwide, with around 12 million messages sent via its platform to date.