SA student accommodation marketplace DigsConnect now has over 1m listed beds

DigsConnect, a South African student accommodation marketplace, now has over one million listed beds.

The DigsConnect platform, launched in 2018 by Alexandria Procter and Greg Ramsay-Keal, allows landlords, estate agents, and property managers to post their property listings, with students then searching and filtering through these listings to find accommodation that meets their needs, as well as other students to live with.

The startup, which raised ZAR12 million (then US$830,000) in March 2019 and received a ZAR3 million (US$200,000) grant from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation last year, recently entered into an agreement with Student.com, the world’s largest student accommodation site, to expand its presence to approximately 30 new countries and 400 new cities.

DigsConnect now has over one million beds listed on its platform, with Procter claiming that the company placed nearly 17 times more students than the previous season, with booking growth of 150% week on week.

“A series of targets written on the wall of our small office space was a key motivator when we founded DigsConnect.com.” One of these objectives was to have one million beds available on the platform by 2028. “To have reached this monumental milestone in only four years is incredible, and it sets the tone for our future milestones,” she said.

Nonetheless, Procter claims that the last two years have been difficult to navigate.

“When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, we had 80% cancellation rates, and in the months that followed, universities remained closed, forcing students to study at home.” We were extremely fortunate to raise funding in mid-2021, which allowed us to keep our doors open while also allowing us to pivot our offering to young adults who were not affected by the university closures. In addition, our collaboration with Student.com enabled us to enter different markets, each responding to the pandemic at a different stage,” she explained.

DigsConnect’s focus, according to Procter, will soon shift to preparation for the European and American peak seasons.

“A 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,” she said.