Startup Deep Dive : Your-Space — FY25 revenue Rs 139.5 crore, loss Rs 37.3 crore; raised $10 million Series A in Jan 2022

Your-Space is a New Delhi-based Indian student housing and co-living operator, founded in 2016, offering PGs, hostels and co-living spaces with tech-enabled safety features.

This Startup Deep Dive explains what Your-Space does, how it makes money, who backs it, how it compares with rivals and what could go wrong, using publicly available information. It is educational and not investment advice. Last updated: October 2026.

Your-Space in Brief

  • What it is: Your-Space is an Indian Student housing / co-living company based in New Delhi.
  • Who it serves: businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers.
  • PGs, hostels and co-living spaces for students and young people
  • Tech-enabled safety features such as facial recognition, biometrics and digital locks
  • Over 7,000 operational beds and about 60 locations in 10+ cities as of Jan 2022, including Delhi, Noida, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Indore, Jalandhar and Bengaluru
  • Funding: About $17.6 million-$18.8 million (reports differ).

Your-Space Quick Facts

Company Your-Space
Founded 2016
Headquarters New Delhi
Founders Shubha Lal, Nidhi Kumra
Sector Student housing / co-living
Total funding About $17.6 million-$18.8 million (reports differ)
Latest round Debt financing of about $8.2 million, March 2025 (per Inc42)
Valuation Not disclosed
Website Not disclosed

Figures marked “reported” come from published reports and may differ between sources; “Not disclosed” means no reliable public figure was found.

What Is Your-Space?

Your-Space operates in the Student housing / co-living space in India. Understanding a company like this starts with three questions: who is the customer, what painful problem is being solved, and why the solution is better than the alternatives. The sections below apply that lens to Your-Space.

  • PGs, hostels and co-living spaces for students and young people
  • Tech-enabled safety features such as facial recognition, biometrics and digital locks
  • Over 7,000 operational beds and about 60 locations in 10+ cities as of Jan 2022, including Delhi, Noida, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Indore, Jalandhar and Bengaluru

The Origin Story of Your-Space

Every company starts from a noticed gap and a team willing to commit to closing it. Strong origin stories are specific: a clear problem, a founding team with relevant skills, and an early product that real customers could test. Founder-market fit, meaning the team’s lived experience or technical depth in the domain, tends to predict how fast a young company learns.

  • Founders: Shubha Lal, Nidhi Kumra.
  • Founded in 2016 by Nidhi Kumra and Shubha Lal (spelled Subhal in one source)
  • Based in New Delhi
  • Co-founders hold 20.5% of the company together

Key Milestones and Challenges

No startup grows in a straight line. Early years usually involve slow adoption, product rewrites, hiring mistakes and funding gaps. In the Student housing / co-living sector the common turning points are a first paying customer, a regulatory approval, a successful product demonstration or a funding round that lets the team invest ahead of demand. How a team responds to setbacks says more about resilience than any single headline.

  • 2016: founded
  • 2017: angel round of about $500K (per Inc42)
  • Jan 2022: $10 million Series A led by Shantanu Rastogi of General Atlantic, Ajax Capital and Holy Basil Consultancy; target of 20,000+ beds by July 2022
  • Planned launches in Hyderabad and Kolkata (as of 2022)
  • Mar 2025: about $8.2 million debt financing (per Inc42)

Your-Space Funding and Investors

Funding history shows how much outside confidence a company has attracted and how long it can operate before needing more capital. Figures below are reported and may differ between sources; valuation figures are estimates unless the company has confirmed them.

  • 2017: about $500K angel round
  • Jan 2022: $10 million Series A (equity and convertible debentures), led by Shantanu Rastogi, Ajax Capital, Holy Basil Consultancy; Manish Choksi and Sunidhi Group family offices also participated
  • Mar 2025: about $8.2 million debt

How Does Your-Space Make Money? (Business Model)

A business model describes who pays, how often and how much it costs to serve them. Strong models show repeat usage, improving margins with scale and acquisition channels that do not depend only on paid spend. Weak models show one-off sales, rising costs and growth that stops when spending stops. For companies selling to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers, sales cycles and contract size matter as much as headline growth.

  • Leases accommodation and rents beds; residential services were 97.5% of FY25 operating revenue
  • Remaining revenue from food, electricity and other services
  • Rent paid on leased accommodation is the largest cost at about 52% of total expenses

The Numbers: Your-Space Financials

Financial figures show whether growth is turning into a self-sustaining business. Small and private companies often disclose little, so any number below is included only if it was found in public reporting.

  • FY23: revenue Rs 117.2 crore, loss Rs 25.5 crore
  • FY24: revenue Rs 142.7 crore (up 21.8%), loss Rs 30.7 crore
  • FY25: revenue from operations Rs 139.5 crore (down 2.2%; another tracker says Rs 140.5 crore), total expenses Rs 178 crore, loss Rs 37.3 crore (up 21.5%), EBITDA margin about minus 20%

Market Opportunity for Your-Space

Market size is easy to exaggerate, so a useful approach separates the total market from the portion a company can realistically reach with its current product and distribution. The main forces behind demand in this sector are rising digital adoption, cloud and mobile penetration, growing enterprise technology spending, government digitisation programmes and a deep pool of engineering talent. Each of these widens the opportunity, but capital efficiency and execution decide who captures it.

  • Competes in India's student housing and co-living market, concentrated near education hubs

Technology and Product at Your-Space

Technology is rarely the whole moat, but it drives speed, cost and customer experience. A practical way to assess it is to separate the capability the company controls from the commodity infrastructure it rents. In this sector the important factors are product quality, data and integration depth, security, scalability and the speed of shipping improvements.

  • Facial recognition, biometrics and digital locks in properties

Team and Culture at Your-Space

Teams are the most important and least measurable asset of a young company. Look at how complementary the founders’ skills are, how deep the second layer of leadership is, and how the company hires and retains specialists. Culture shows up in small repeated behaviours: how quickly bad news travels upward and whether commitments to customers are kept.

  • Co-founders Nidhi Kumra and Shubha Lal

Your-Space Competitors: Competitive Landscape

A fair competitive analysis names direct rivals, adjacent players who could move into the space, and the customer’s default alternative. Durable advantages include proprietary data or technology, licences and approvals, brand trust, switching costs and cost leadership.

Competitor How it differs
Stanza Living Named by a database
Zolo Stays Named in funding coverage
Oxford Cap Named in funding coverage
OYO Life Named in funding coverage
NestAway Named in funding coverage

Risks and Challenges for Your-Space

  • Revenue declined in FY25 while fixed lease costs kept losses widening
  • Heavy lease cost burden
  • Return on capital employed about minus 75% in FY25
  • Competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth.
  • Funding risk: technology businesses often burn cash before reaching profit and depend on investor appetite.

Risk is not a reason to avoid a company; it is a reason to price it correctly and to monitor the right indicators over time. Regulation in this sector is shaped by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Your-Space Growth Outlook: What to Watch

  • Dependent on occupancy gains and cost control; funding via debt in 2025
  • Key indicators: recurring revenue, customer retention, gross margin, customer acquisition cost and runway.
  • Funding position: Whether Your-Space can reach its next milestone before needing new capital.
  • Regulation: Changes from data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Industry Context: Where Your-Space Fits

India's technology startup ecosystem is one of the largest in the world, supported by cheap data, a large base of smartphone users, digital public infrastructure and a deep engineering talent pool. Companies now build for education, software, mobility, logistics, agriculture, defence, media and more, selling both to Indian customers and abroad.

Durable technology companies usually combine a clear customer problem with repeatable distribution and disciplined unit economics. Growth funded only by spending tends to fade, while products that customers keep using and paying for build compounding advantages.

For readers new to this field, a useful habit is to separate announcements from evidence. A plan, a partnership or a funding headline describes intent, while a delivered product, a paying customer or an audited financial statement describes results. Comparing the two over time shows how reliably a company turns promises into outcomes.

Bull Case and Bear Case for Your-Space

An investment thesis is a short, testable statement of why a company could become far more valuable, together with what evidence would prove it wrong. The points below are general to this sector and are not forecasts for Your-Space.

Bull case

  • A large and growing base of digital users and businesses expands the addressable market.
  • Recurring revenue and strong retention can compound growth.
  • Selling into global markets widens the opportunity beyond India.

Bear case

  • Heavy competition can compress pricing and margins.
  • Dependence on external funding can force painful cost cuts.
  • Regulation or platform changes can disrupt a product quickly.

Lessons Founders and Investors Can Take from Your-Space

Studying a company in the Student housing / co-living space offers lessons that go beyond any single firm. The points below are general lessons for the sector and are not claims about Your-Space.

  • Solving a clear, frequent customer problem matters more than adding features.
  • Retention and repeat usage are better health signals than sign-ups.
  • Disciplined spending extends runway and keeps options open when funding tightens.
  • Distribution, not just product quality, decides who wins in crowded markets.
  • Building trust through data protection and reliability is part of the product.

How to Evaluate Your-Space as a Startup

  • Customer clarity: Can Your-Space name its customer and the problem it solves in one sentence?
  • Evidence of demand: Look for repeat customers, signed contracts or measurable usage rather than announcements alone.
  • Economics: Check whether margins improve as volume grows.
  • Execution: Compare announced timelines with what has actually been delivered.
  • Funding runway: Estimate how long current capital lasts at the present spending rate.
  • Regulatory standing: Confirm required approvals are in place.
  • Customer concentration: Check whether a few customers account for most of the revenue.
  • Management depth: Look for experienced leaders beyond the founders and a stable core team.

The Takeaway

Your-Space is part of India’s growing Student housing / co-living ecosystem. The useful lesson from studying it is the discipline of asking structured questions about customers, economics, advantage and resilience. Companies that answer them well, repeatedly and under pressure are the ones that endure. Readers should treat any single report, ranking or funding headline as one input among many, and should re-check key facts against recent company announcements. Because public information on young companies is often limited, patience in verifying claims is part of good analysis. Public sources can also describe the same company in different ways, so it is worth checking dates, definitions and whether a figure refers to revenue, total income or transaction value, and whether it covers one entity or a wider group, before drawing conclusions. Small differences in rounding, currency conversion or reporting periods can also change how a figure reads. Comparing the same figure across several recent reports helps show whether it is stable or has changed over time. This article is educational and is not investment advice.

  • Clear customers and repeat demand matter more than announcements.
  • Regulation and capital needs shape how fast a startup in this sector can grow.
  • Track a few leading indicators over time rather than one headline metric.

Your-Space FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Your-Space?

Your-Space is a New Delhi-based Indian student housing and co-living operator, founded in 2016, offering PGs, hostels and co-living spaces with tech-enabled safety features. It is profiled in the Startup Deep Dive series, which explains business model, funding, competitors and risks.

Who founded Your-Space?

Your-Space was founded by Shubha Lal, Nidhi Kumra, and the company reports a founding year of 2016.

How much funding has Your-Space raised?

About $17.6 million-$18.8 million (reports differ). Funding figures are reported and may differ between sources, so readers should check the latest company announcements.

How does Your-Space make money?

Your-Space earns revenue from its Student housing / co-living products and services sold to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers. The exact revenue mix is described in the business model section and is not fully disclosed publicly.

Who are the competitors of Your-Space?

Reported rivals include Stanza Living, Zolo Stays, Oxford Cap, OYO Life. See the competitor comparison above for how they differ.

What are the main risks for Your-Space?

Main risks include competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth, funding and capital needs, competition and regulation by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules. This is educational content, not investment advice.

Related Startup Deep Dives: Tessol — FY25 revenue Rs 17.0 crore, up about 122% from Rs 7.7 crore in FY24 | SunSource Energy — Founded by two University of Massachusetts graduates in 2010, SunSource was acquired by SHV Energy in 2021 and reports a 350 MW plus C&I solar portfolio. Browse the full Startup Deep Dive series.

Source

Source: Publicly available data, published reports, industry research, and other credible sources.

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