What Uloop does

Uloop is a web-based marketplace platform connecting college students with housing, jobs, tutors, scholarships, insurance, and other campus-life services. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Royal Oak, Michigan (with corporate domicile in Illinois), the platform serves more than 1,000,000 students across 4,000 U.S. colleges and universities. Its defining technical feature is a college-specific subdomain architecture (e.g., ucdavis.uloop.com, ucla.uloop.com) that localizes listings at the campus level, supporting organic SEO and community-level engagement. The product surface spans over 20 categories including student housing, sublets, roommate matching, part-time and full-time jobs, internships, tutors, test prep, course notes, scholarships, student loans, study abroad programs, renters/tuition/car insurance, moving services, furniture rental, college news, and professor ratings, supplemented by utility tools such as GPA and grade calculators.

Uloop monetizes exclusively on the supply side of the marketplace. Students access all listings for free; revenue is generated through paid employer job postings, paid housing provider listings, and affiliate referral fees from financial-services partners, most notably GradGuard for insurance and Sallie Mae for student loans. Pricing for employers and landlords is not publicly disclosed and the channels are predominantly self-serve, consistent with a product-led growth motion. Distribution relies on organic search through 4,000+ campus-level subdomains, social sharing, and weekly email newsletters rather than paid acquisition.

The company operates with 11-50 employees and has executed two undisclosed acquisitions in early 2018 (Roomsurf and eCampus Ventures), building a broader network of sister brands that includes RateMyApartments, CollegeRentals, CribWiz, Roomsurf, Textsurf, UWire, and CampusAve. Leadership is anchored by co-founder and CEO Corey Cleek. No funding rounds are disclosed, suggesting the business has been largely bootstrapped. No AI or machine-learning capabilities are referenced in available materials; the platform's competitive position rests on network effects from its 1M+ user base and on the SEO moat created by its college-specific subdomain footprint.

Name

Uloop

Legal name

Uloop Inc.

Website

https://uloop.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Uloop is a free web-based student marketplace serving more than 1,000,000 students across 4,000 U.S. colleges, monetizing through paid employer job postings, housing provider listings, and financial-product referrals (GradGuard, Sallie Mae).

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Student Marketplace / College Classifieds

NAICS

Educational Services (611), Exam Preparation and Tutoring (611691), Educational Support Services (6117)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Student Housing Marketplaces & Booking Platforms (THAMAGAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Off-Campus Housing Support & Landlord Relations (EDALACAJ), Student & Intern Short-Term Housing Marketplaces (THAMALAJ)

Keywords

• Student marketplace platform
• College job board
• Off-campus housing
• Tutor marketplace
• Campus classifieds

Headquarters

HQ city

San Mateo

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Personnel

Revenue model

1. Employer Job Postings: Employers pay to post job listings targeting college students on the platform. Dedicated job posting portals at jobs.uloop.com and college-specific subdomains.
2. Housing Provider Listings: Landlords and property managers pay to post housing listings on the platform. Dedicated housing portal at rent.uloop.com with college-specific subdomains.
3. Insurance Referrals (GradGuard Partnership): Uloop partners with GradGuard to offer renters insurance, tuition insurance, and car insurance products to students, earning referral fees for insurance products.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Uloop operates a free online marketplace for college students that aggregates campus-localized listings for off-campus housing, sublets, roommates, part-time and full-time jobs, internships, tutors, test prep, scholarships, student loans, study-abroad programs, course notes, insurance, and campus news. Students access the platform for free through uloop.com and college-specific subdomains, while employers and housing providers pay to post listings through dedicated self-serve portals (jobs.uloop.com and rent.uloop.com).

Product overview

Uloop is a student marketplace platform serving over 1,000,000 students across 4,000 colleges. The platform operates as a unified marketplace with multiple interconnected service categories including student housing (apartments, houses, sublets, roommates), college jobs (part-time, full-time, internships), academic services (tutors, test prep, course notes), financial services (scholarships, student loans, insurance via GradGuard partnership), and utility tools (GPA calculators, grade calculators). The ecosystem also includes study abroad programs, college news, and moving/storage/furniture rental services. The platform connects students with local housing providers, employers, tutors, and other students through college-specific subdomains.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Student Housing Marketplace Marketplace listing off-campus apartments, houses, and sublets near U.S. college campuses for students seeking housing; listings are posted by landlords and property managers via rent.uloop.com.
• College Jobs Board Job board offering part-time, full-time, internship, babysitting, nanny, tutoring, restaurant, retail, summer camp, lifeguard, and swim instructor positions posted by employers targeting college students via jobs.uloop.com.
• College Tutors Directory Marketplace connecting students with local tutors for academic assistance across various subjects.
• Test Prep Courses Directory of test preparation resources and listings for standardized tests including GMAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, DAT, OAT, PCAT, ACT, SAT, TOEFL, and IELTS.
• College Internships Internship listings connecting college students with employers offering internship opportunities.
• College Roommates Service helping students find compatible roommates for off-campus living.
• College Sublets Sublet listings enabling students to find or post temporary housing arrangements.
• College Scholarships Scholarship listings and application resources to help students find financial aid opportunities.
• Student Loans Student loan comparison and refinancing options, including partnerships with Sallie Mae.
• Study Abroad Programs Listings for study abroad programs around the world.
• College Course Notes Platform for students to share and access course notes and study materials from classmates.
• College Insurance (GradGuard Partnership) Insurance products for students including renters insurance, tuition insurance, and car insurance, offered through Uloop's partnership with GradGuard and generating referral fees.
• College Professor Ratings Platform for students to rate and review their college professors.
• College News Campus news content covering categories including Campus Life, Sports, Fashion, Business, Entertainment, Humor, Politics, and Food.
• College Storage Listings Listings for storage solutions near college campuses.
• College Moving Services Moving service listings for students relocating to or from campus housing.
• College Furniture Rental Furniture rental options for students furnishing their off-campus housing.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• GradGuardcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerUloop has partnered with GradGuard to offer College Renters Insurance, Tuition Insurance, and Car Insurance products to students. GradGuard provides specialized insurance coverage for college students including renters insurance to protect valuables, tuition insurance for mid-semester withdrawals, and car insurance for students and recent grads.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Apartments.com: Apartments.com is a major rental listing marketplace that overlaps with Uloop's off-campus housing vertical; landlords evaluating listing spend often compare the two for reaching college-student renters.
• Zillow: Zillow is a dominant US real estate marketplace with extensive rental inventory, competing with Uloop's rent.uloop.com portal for both landlord paid listings and student-renter attention, especially via mobile apps.
• Chegg: Chegg is an established student services platform spanning tutoring, textbooks, study help, and rentals — directly comparable to Uloop's tutoring, test prep, and textbook-adjacent offerings as a broader incumbent in the same student-services category.
• Rate My Professors: Rate My Professors is the dominant professor ratings platform and overlaps with Uloop's College Professor Ratings product, targeting the same student audience for instructor reviews on a per-campus basis.

Emerging players

• Course Hero: Course Hero operates a study materials and course notes platform — a direct overlap with Uloop's College Course Notes product — serving the same student audience with a similar peer-shared resource model.
• Princeton Review: Princeton Review is a long-standing test prep provider (GMAT, GRE, SAT) that competes with Uloop's Test Prep Courses listings for students searching for standardized exam preparation resources.
• Varsity Tutors: Varsity Tutors is a large online and in-person tutoring marketplace that competes directly with Uloop's College Tutors product across the same student demographic and tutor-supply economics.

Direct peers

• WayUp: WayUp operates a student-focused job and internship marketplace targeting college talent, overlapping with Uloop's employer-paid job board across the same demographic and employer base.
• Handshake: Handshake is the leading college-student job and internship marketplace, connecting students at thousands of US universities with employers — directly competing with Uloop's jobs.uloop.com vertical on the same campus-by-campus targeting model.
• Niche: Niche (formerly College Confidential) operates a college search, rankings, and student-reviews platform with similar campus-level content and SEO strategies that compete for the same college-bound student audience as Uloop.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/uloop
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/uloop

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A2 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Uloop