Loans, internships, and housing: Student service ecosystem Habacus raises €5 million to develop their platform

Habacus, a Milan-based SME and integrated service ecosystem for students, has secured €5 million in fresh funding in order to enhance its proprietary AI technology and expand its service offering.

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The round was led by P101 SGR S.p.A. Gestore Euveca (P101), a leading player in Italian venture capital with an international focus, with participation from CDP Venture Capital SGR.

Paolo Cuniberti, founder and CEO of Habacus, commented: “Today’s investment represents a strategic accelerator for Habacus, consolidating its role as a key intermediary between education, finance, and the job market. Through certification, we provide a vital tool to ensure transparency and accountability, fostering efficient allocation of human capital and financial resources. Our goal is to build an integrated ecosystem that supports students’ growth, while strengthening the competitiveness and resilience of the national economic system.”

Founded in 2017 by Paolo Cuniberti, Habacus offers integrated services for students, including educational guidance, skill certification, and data validation, enabling access to financial resources, housing solutions, and job placement opportunities. Habacus has partnered with over 1,300 educational institutions, banks, and companies, certifying more than 30,000 students to access services provided by its platform.

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Habacus’ goal is to stand out as an essential partner for students, leveraging a business model that can blend innovation with sustainability. At the heart of Habacus’ value proposition is the seamless integration of educational guidance, certification of competencies, and validation of information—all critical enablers for student loans.

Coupled with housing solutions and job placement support, Habacus has built a comprehensive ecosystem to foster students’ personal and professional development. By 2026, the company’s ambitious goal is to support a community of 100,000 students.

P101 is the lead investor in the operation with an investment of €4 million realised through the funds Programma 103 and Azimut Eltif Venture Capital P103. This investment brings the number of companies backed by Programa 103 with two years of its launch to 11. This is consistent with P101’s mission to invest in innovative companies with high growth potential that, among other things, promote social characteristics in line with Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation (SFDR) standards.

CDP Venture Capital SGR, through Fondo Rilancio Startup, participated in the investment with a €1 million investment and also converted a participative financial instrument of equal value subscribed in 2022, further strengthening its support to Habacus’ growth.

With this investment, Habacus will significantly ramp up its technological development, particularly in AI-driven algorithms, with the goal of evolving into a proper human-capital intelligence platform.

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This platform will support student growth, education, and career development—key areas that Habacus argues are of interest to both banks and corporate stakeholders.

According to Habacus, with €220 million in student loans disbursed in the first nine months of 2024, the Italian market for student financing is rapidly expanding. In comparison to mature markets like Germany and France, Italy offers significant growth potential. As the market leader in supporting student loan disbursement, Habacus plays a critical role in enabling access to higher education.

Its impact is evidenced by a stark reduction in university dropout rates: while the national dropout rate is 17% for students who do not complete their first year, Habacus’ student community reports a remarkably low 0.8% dropout rate.

“We are thrilled to support Habacus in this new phase of technological and commercial expansion,” said Andrea Di Camillo, Managing Partner at P101. “Habacus is a pioneer in student financing in Italy—a sector with high social impact that remains underdeveloped compared to the US, UK, France, and Germany. Investing in Habacus means supporting the development of this market, the edutech sector, and, most importantly, human capital and future talent. We firmly believe that Habacus’ data-driven and tech-oriented approach will enable more deserving students to access high-quality education and achieve their full potential. We look forward to supporting Habacus on this exciting journey to achieve its next big milestones.”

“We have been supporting Habacus since 2022, and we are proud to strengthen our commitment with this new injection of capital,” said Caterina Siclari, Senior Partner and Head of the Startup Relaunch Fund at CDP Venture Capital. “Making academic education more accessible and inclusive has a transformative impact on the personal and professional development of thousands of students. Habacus has already demonstrated its ability to forge successful partnerships with financial institutions, and we’re confident in its potential for future growth.”