NEW YORK, April 30, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — After helping 14 million+ students in the UK and Europe research universities and housing through verified reviews, StudentCrowd has secured $9m in funding to support its expansion into the US student housing market.
The Series A funding round, led by YFM Equity Partners and backed by the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, through fund manager Mercia Ventures, marks a significant step forward in the company’s growth.
Founded by Paul Humphreys and Pete Sisson, StudentCrowd was created to help students make more confident decisions about where to study and live. Today, the combination of comprehensive market data, verified student reviews and structured property profiles makes it a trusted source of insight for millions of students. It also supports the UK’s largest 30 student housing operators by informing and attracting prospective residents through AI-powered search, helping reach students at the moment decisions are made.
Unverified online reviews remain a major challenge for both students researching housing and providers managing their online reputation. StudentCrowd addresses this by verifying reviews through active university email addresses, ensuring contributors are genuine residents attending a local university.
This type of verified, structured content is becoming increasingly important as search behaviour evolves. AI-powered tools rely on trusted data sources to generate results, and as more students use AI to research where to live, operators without a presence on trusted, structured platforms risk being invisible at the point of decision.
The company is now bringing its authentic property profile model to the US, where students currently have limited access to verified peer insight when researching housing, making it harder to compare options with confidence. Initial activity is focused on creating enhanced university and operator listings built for AI-powered search, helping students research accommodation through verified insight while also laying the foundations for broader sector intelligence over time
Early traction has been supported by strong organic search visibility and domain authority within the student housing category, allowing the platform to reach students already actively researching where to study and live.
The investment will support continued product innovation and targeted market development as StudentCrowd builds its presence in the US and assesses how best to scale its platform internationally.
Paul Humphreys, CEO and co-founder of StudentCrowd, said: “Our mission has always been to bring transparency to the student accommodation market – both for the students and for the sector. On the student side, we want every student to be able to choose where they study and live with confidence, powered by authentic, verified reviews from people with real experience.
This funding enables us to invest in the platform to better support decision-making for the students and the sector. While researching mainland Europe and the US, we discovered similar challenges and are working with launch partners to expand the platform into these geographies.”
Oliver Wheatley, Investment Manager at YFM Equity Partners, said:
“Having tracked the business since 2021, what has really stood out to us is that Paul, Pete and the team consistently deliver on what they say they will do. They have built a genuinely impressive business on limited capital, and the quality of the product shows in the way customers talk about it and the impressive company metrics. The international expansion is not a speculative bet – existing customers are already pulling them into new markets, which tells you everything about the strength of the underlying proposition.
“We’re excited to partner with the management team and Mercia to support the next chapter of that journey.”
About StudentCrowd
StudentCrowd is the leading platform for student accommodation research, designed to bridge the gap between students and housing providers in the age of AI search. Trusted by over 14 million+ students, the platform surfaces verified reviews and detailed property profiles that are increasingly being integrated into AI-powered search and LLMs. By combining authentic student sentiment with structured property data, StudentCrowd helps students make confident housing decisions while ensuring accommodation providers remain visible at the critical moment of student discovery.
Visit https://business.studentcrowd.com/us-launch
Contact
Rhea Hokayem
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