What Under 25 Universe does

Under 25 Universe is an India-based learning-technology and youth media platform founded in 2013 and headquartered in Bangalore. It operates a mobile application that connects college students aged 17-25 with brands seeking authentic youth engagement for marketing campaigns, content creation, ambassador programs, and campus activations. The platform serves as a two-sided marketplace: students earn money and gain professional experience by completing brand-sponsored missions, while brands access a distributed network of student talent across 1,250+ campuses and 265+ cities in India.

The product ecosystem centers on the Under 25 App for mission discovery and execution, supported by the Under 25 Fellowship (a 9-month leadership program across 500 colleges and 50 cities), the annual Under 25 Summit hosted on campuses, and the Snapchat Opinion Leader (SOL) Program for AR lens content creation. Distribution is driven by campus ambassador networks, Summits, referral programs, and social media. Under 25 reports 1.5M+ community members, 30k+ active app users, 325+ brand partnerships, and roughly Rs 70 lakhs (~$84k) distributed to students through platform participation.

The business model is transaction-fee based: the platform monetizes brand-side campaigns and content execution, while remaining free for students to join. Under 25 was acquired in 2025 by Collective Artists Network Private Limited, which reported group revenue of Rs 423 crore (~$50M) as of March 2025. The parent also owns Galleri5 and Terribly Tiny Tales and is repositioning around AI-led filmmaking, though no AI capabilities are evident within Under 25's product surface. No standalone revenue, funding, or valuation figures are disclosed for Under 25 Universe.

Name

Under 25 Universe

Legal name

Collective Artists Network Private Limited

Website

https://under25universe.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Under 25 Universe is an India-based mobile platform connecting college students with brands for paid missions, ambassador programs, and campus activations, serving 1.5M+ students across 1,250+ campuses and 325+ brand partners as a subsidiary of Collective Artists Network.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Youth Marketing Platform

NAICS

Media Buying Agencies (54183), Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)

akta.pro primary industry

Course Authoring, Hosting & Delivery Tools (LMS for Creators) (MPACALAJ)

Keywords

• Youth marketing platform
• Student engagement network
• Campus ambassador programs
• Brand activation services
• Student earning opportunities

Headquarters

HQ city

Bangalore

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Brand Partnership Campaigns: Under 25 acts as an intermediary connecting brands with student talent for marketing campaigns, content creation, and brand activations. Revenue is generated through service fees and campaign execution charges.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Under 25 Universe operates a mobile platform that connects college students with brands through missions, fellowships, summits, and ambassador programs. The company acts as an intermediary enabling brands to run marketing campaigns, content creation, and brand activations using student talent, while students earn money, gain professional experience, and build portfolios. It is India's largest student collective spanning 1,250+ campuses across 265+ cities.

Product overview

Under 25 Universe is India's largest student collective and youth media network, operating as a platform connecting student talent with brands for economic opportunities. The ecosystem consists of the Under 25 App as the central mobile platform for mission-based earning, supported by the Fellowship program that develops student leaders who host Summits at their campuses. Additional offerings include the Snapchat Opinion Leader (SOL) Program for AR content creation and various mission categories (internships, content creation, ambassador programs, surveys). The company was acquired by Collective Artists Network and has expanded to reach 1.5 million students across 1,250+ campuses in 265+ cities, partnering with over 325 brands.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Under 25 App A mobile platform designed to help students earn money by completing brand missions, accessing internships, content creation opportunities, and ambassador programs. The app connects student talent with brands for various engagement activities and is the central access point for the Under 25 ecosystem.
• Under 25 Fellowship India's premiere student fellowship bringing together 500 emerging student leaders across 500 colleges and 50 cities over 9 months. Fellows host the Under 25 Summit on their campus, work with top brands, build campus teams, and become core members of India's largest student community.
• Under 25 Summit An annual flagship event hosted by student fellows at their respective campuses, featuring brand activations, workshops, speaker sessions, and networking opportunities for hundreds of students.
• Snapchat Opinion Leader (SOL) Program A program enabling students to become Snapchat content creators, learning to build AR lenses using Lens Studio and participating in missions for brand engagement, with earnings potential through rewards and merchandise.
• Student Opportunities (Missions) Various earning opportunities for students including flexible work, internships, content creation, giveaways, ambassador programs, and focus groups/surveys that connect student talent with leading brands.
• Hustlers Collective A team of student leaders recruited for the Under 25 Summit, handling event management, marketing, ticket sales, and community building activities during the event.

Quantifiable outcome

• ₹70+ lakhs distributed to students through platform participation
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Dare2Compete: Student competitions, hackathons, and brand-challenge platform serving Indian college students. Overlapping audience and brand-campaign funding model, with partial feature overlap in missions and ambassador programs.

Direct peers

• Internshala: India's largest student internship and freelance opportunities marketplace. Closely comparable target audience (Indian college students), similar mission-based opportunity flow, and overlapping brand partnership economics.
• Pepper Content: India-headquartered creator marketplace connecting brands with vetted freelance content creators. Closely comparable two-sided marketplace model, transaction-fee revenue, and brand-customer overlap.
• Unstop: Platform connecting students with competitions, hackathons, internships, and brand-led challenges. Comparable student-opportunity marketplace with brand sponsorship as the primary monetization lever.
• Galleri5: Another Collective Artists Network acquisition. A UGC platform enabling brands to crowdsource content from a community of creators — directly comparable mission-based creator marketplace model.
• Influencer.in: India-based influencer-marketing platform connecting brands with social-media creators. Directly comparable intermediary role between brands and creators, with campaign-based revenue model.
• Plixxo (by POPxo): Influencer-marketing platform focused on Indian creators. Comparable brand-creator matchmaking, transaction-based monetization, and Indian-market focus, though not exclusively student-targeted.
• Terribly Tiny Tales: Sister brand under Collective Artists Network. A creator-led storytelling platform that licenses content from a network of writers — directly comparable as a curated creator community monetized via brand partnerships.

Broad incumbents

• Naukri.com (InfoEdge): India's dominant jobs/internship board, owned by InfoEdge. Comparable in audience (Indian students and early-career talent) and in monetizing brand demand for student attention, though at much larger scale and with broader scope.
• POPxo: Larger Indian digital women's lifestyle media platform with a brand-marketing arm (Plixxo). Comparable youth-female-skewed audience and brand-campaign monetization, with a broader editorial focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/under25universe
• Facebookfacebook.com/under25universe
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/under-25
• Instagraminstagram.com/under25official

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&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Under 25 Universe