Unibuddy

A London-founded education technology company whose platform lets prospective students chat with current university students.

About Unibuddy

Unibuddy runs an online platform where people thinking about university can chat with current student ambassadors from partner universities. Universities subscribe, and many add the chat tool to their websites.

Its goal is described as transforming the way students choose their place of study, and helping universities recruit more effectively. We did not find a formal mission statement on its own site.

It began at BaseKX, UCL's entrepreneurship hub in London, and later moved to IDEALondon in Shoreditch. UCL says it has more than 300 staff, while a job listing says about 70, so check the current size. Offices named in a listing are London, New York and Bangalore.

A job listing describes one office day a week, flexible hours, and new starters being trained and mentored by company leaders. For tech roles it says being keen to learn matters most.

The same listing invited school leavers, recent graduates and career changers to apply for entry-level sales, marketing, customer success and engineering roles, though that listing had closed. No pay was given. Check the Unibuddy careers page for new roles.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Prospective students message current student ambassadors.', 'title': 'Student chat platform'}
• {'desc': 'Websites and tools universities use to reach applicants.', 'title': 'University recruitment tools'}

Key facts

• Started at BaseKX, UCL; later IDEALondon, Shoreditch
• Founders: Kimeshan Naidoo and Diego Fanara (UCL case study)
• Entry-level listing open to school leavers (now closed)
• Offices named: London, New York, Bangalore

Website: unibuddy.com