Unibuddy
A student-to-student recruitment platform for universities.
- universities worldwide, according to Unibuddy
- 500+
- prospective students, according to Unibuddy
- 3M+
- messages sent
- 15M+
- group turnover in 2024
- £7.0M
About Unibuddy
Unibuddy is a London company that sells universities a platform where prospective students chat with current students, staff and alumni. Universities embed the chat on their websites, and students can also find ambassadors on partner sites such as UCAS and Studyportals. The platform also has group communities for admitted students and an AI Assistant that answers questions from the university’s website. Unibuddy says it works with more than 500 institutions and has reached more than 3 million prospective students. Prices are on request, and the group reported £7.0 million in turnover for 2024.
Unibuddy connects prospective students with student ambassadors of a university. A student opens a chat on the university’s website or in the Unibuddy app and asks about courses, housing or student life. The university pays a subscription, and the student uses the service for free.
The company was registered in London in September 2015, with Diego Fanara among its first directors. Kimeshan Naidoo joined the board in 2017. Naidoo’s MSc dissertation at UCL was an early version of the product, and the founders worked from UCL’s BaseKX hub and later IDEALondon. Unibuddy launched with five universities in 2017. In 2019 UCAS put the chat on ucas.com.
Stride VC led a $5 million Series A in 2019, and Highland Europe led a $20 million Series B in 2021. Group turnover was £7.0 million in 2024, with a loss after tax of £4.4 million. The company cut costs by 23% that year and raised convertible loan notes at the end of 2024.
History
- 2015 The company is registered in London on 23 September as Unibudy Limited, with Diego Fanara as a director.
- 2017 Unibuddy launches with five universities. Kimeshan Naidoo becomes a director in August.
- 2018 The company changes its registered name to Unibuddy Limited on 31 August.
- 2019 Stride VC leads a $5 million Series A in July. In October UCAS adds Unibuddy chat to ucas.com.
- 2020 Universities host more than 200 virtual events on Unibuddy around Results Day in August.
- 2021 Highland Europe leads a $20 million Series B in July. The iPhone app comes out in June.
- 2022 Unibuddy releases Community for group chats between admitted students in May.
- 2024 Turnover reaches £7.0 million. The average headcount falls from 89 to 64, and the company raises convertible loan notes.
- 2025 Unibuddy launches Assistant, an AI helper that answers student questions from the university’s website.
- 2026 Unibuddy hosts Powered by Peers, an online conference for universities, on 21 October.
Unibuddy funding and investors
- July 2019 Series A $5 million
Lead: Stride VC Stride VCEmerge EducationBart SwansonDaniel BorelShakil Khan
Source: EdSurge - Q1 2021
- July 2021
- Late 2024 Convertible loan notes Amount not disclosed
Not disclosed
Source: Unibuddy annual report 2024, Companies House
Total as reported in July 2021 by Crowdfund Insider and Silicon Canals. UCL wrote in February 2026 that Unibuddy has raised over £29 million. The amount of the 2024 convertible loan notes is not disclosed. Companies House shows new share allotments in 2025 and 2026 without public round details.
Leadership
- DF Diego Fanara Co-founder and CEO
- KN Kimeshan Naidoo Co-founder and director, CTO according to UCL
- SP Sam Park Chief Financial Officer
- ER Eric Rosenthal Chief Revenue Officer
- SH Seb Hochmuth VP Product and Technology
- DC Dean Corbett VP People
Fred Destin of Stride VC has sat on the board since 2019. Directors Fergal Mullen and Adam Sommer joined in 2021.
How Unibuddy works for universities
- weeks to set up, according to Unibuddy
- 1–2
- students on Discover partner sites
- 100M+
- of students say it helped them feel confident to enrol
- 65%
- One-to-one chat
- Student and staff profiles
- Ambassador videos and blogs
- Moderation and safeguarding
- Group communities
- AI Assistant
- Conversation summaries
- Microsurveys
- Slate, Zapier and Campus Management
- Multiple ambassador programmes
65% of students said Unibuddy helped them gain confidence to enrol, according to Unibuddy.
Video, blogs and resources
Products
- Chat One-to-one chat between prospective students and ambassadors, staff or faculty, embedded on the university’s website. Ambassadors also post videos and blogs, and conversation summaries go to CRMs such as Slate. About Chat
- Community Group chats for admitted students before term starts. Unibuddy matches students by profile and suggests groups, and staff see engagement data and trending topics. About Community
- Assistant An AI helper for the university website, built on GPT. It answers factual questions from the site’s own content and hands nuanced questions to a student ambassador. About Assistant
- Discover Universities publish ambassador profiles on partner sites such as UCAS, Studyportals, Study in the USA and educations.com. Partner networks charge extra fees. About Discover
- Unibuddy app A free app for iPhone and Android where students chat with ambassadors of several universities and join communities. It has 100K+ downloads on Google Play. Google Play
- Intelligence Conversation insights, microsurveys and benchmarking data that show universities what prospects ask and how they compare with other institutions. See the platform
100M+ students on partner sites How much is Unibuddy?
- Most popular Chat Premium Plus On request chat, content, analytics and insights
- Chat Enterprise On request adds several ambassador programmes
- Community On request unlimited communities and group chats
- Assistant On request add-on
- Discover network Partner fees vary by partner site
Is Unibuddy free?
Students use Unibuddy and the app for free. Universities pay a subscription.
Unibuddy publishes no prices. Packages from unibuddy.com/pricing on 6 October 2026. Each Chat package includes access to the Discover network, and partner sites may charge a separate fee.
Unibuddy for universities
For universities- 01Chat Premium Plus covers chat with students and staff, shareable content, analytics and conversation insights.
- 02Chat Enterprise adds several ambassador programmes, with data split by department.
- 03Community and the AI Assistant are sold as separate products.
- 04Conversation data goes to Slate, Zapier and Campus Management.
Prices on request on 6 October 2026.
Ratings
- Website widgetChat and Assistant embedded on university pages
- iPhone and iPadUnibuddy app, free
- AndroidUnibuddy app, 100K+ downloads
- CRMSlate, Zapier, Campus Management
- Discover partnersUCAS, Studyportals, Study in the USA, educations.com
The Unibuddy app
- Platforms
- iPhone and Android
- Price
- Free
- Downloads
- 100K+ on Google Play
- First release
- June 2021 on the App Store
- Version
- 1.99.0, 23 September 2026
- Requires
- iOS 15.6 or later
Is Unibuddy worth it?
What university staff like
- Support answered within 24 hours, and Cornell Tech used live events for admitted students.Christian Balmaseda, Trustpilot, November 2020
- Current students are easy to onboard as ambassadors.Meagan, Trustpilot, November 2020
- The virtual events tool showed slides and presenters together.Trustpilot review, April 2021
- 21 of 23 Trustpilot reviews give 5 stars.Trustpilot, 23 reviews
What university staff criticise
- One university had 3 account managers in a year and waited long for email replies.Susana Ferreira, Trustpilot, May 2025
- The CSV export lacked conversations per ambassador.Danniel, Trustpilot, March 2021
- The Slate integration could go deeper.Cory Cottingim, Trustpilot, November 2020
- No prices are published, and Discover partner sites charge extra fees.Unibuddy pricing page
What users write in reviews, not our rating. Most Trustpilot reviews date from 2020 and 2021, and none came in the last 12 months. The latest review, from May 2025, gives 1 star. G2 lists Unibuddy with no reviews.
Unibuddy reviews
- Very poor client service
“My experience with Unibuddy is very bad.”
Susana Ferreira · 15 May 2025 · App Store - The support team is seriously top…
“What can be better is the analytics portion of unibuddy; perhaps have it include the number of conversations per ambassador in the .csv”
Danniel · 12 March 2021 · App Store - Unibuddy has been critical to our…virtual recruitment and yield activities
“I’ve never had to wait more than 24 hours to get a response.”
Christian Balmaseda · 17 November 2020 · App Store
Latest news
- Powered by Peers, the Unibuddy global conference
- UCL-backed company helps millions of students choose the best university for them
- Unibuddy raises $20 million Series B, Crowdfund Insider
- Unibuddy raises €16.9 million after 190% growth, Silicon Canals
- UCAS and Unibuddy launch a peer-to-peer service
- Unibuddy raises $5 million in Series A, EdSurge
Contacts and company data
- Legal entity
- Unibuddy Ltd, 5 New Street Square, London EC4A 3TW, United Kingdom
- Company number
- 09790742, England and Wales
- Incorporated
- 23 September 2015
- Former name
- Unibudy Limited, until 31 August 2018
- Business
- SIC 63120, web portals
- VAT
- 233436034
- Result 2024
- Loss after tax of £4.4 million, group accounts
Alternatives to Unibuddy
-
Studyportals🇳🇱 Netherlands Search sites for study programmes from Eindhoven. It owns Uni-Life, a peer-to-peer platform for students, since March 2025, and is a Discover partner of Unibuddy. → - T The Ambassador PlatformUnited States A peer-to-peer platform for universities with chat, photos, online events and communities. ↗
How we built this profile
- Sources. Facts come from the company’s own website, press room, imprint and careers page, from Wikipedia, the App Store, Google Play and Trustpilot. Every source is listed on the page.
- Checks. Kinescope checked every number on 6 October 2026. Prices, ratings and job counts change, and we refresh them with each update.
- Our words. Descriptions are written by the Kinescope team. Quotes from reviews are marked with the author and source, and we do not rate the company ourselves.
- Corrections. The company can send new facts or corrections, and we update the profile.
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