Unive nets €410K to make admissions guidance more accessible

Unive, an AI-driven college and career counselling platform, has raised €410,000 to enhance its platform by pairing AI with expert tutor guidance and to broaden access to affordable application support. The total comprises €350,000 from Firstpick VC and a €60,000 grant from EduChallenger.

Unive is an AI-powered college and career counselling platform that supports
students throughout the admissions journey and beyond. It combines data-driven
AI guidance with input from experienced admissions professionals, helping
students identify best-fit schools, refine essays, prepare for interviews, and
find scholarships. Unive currently serves applicants to US universities and
plans to expand to Western Europe.

The mission is to make an increasingly complex and costly process more
accessible. As applicant volumes rise around 5 per cent annually and acceptance
rates fall, private counselling can range from hundreds of dollars per hour to
as much as $750,000 overall.

Such high costs leave many talented students without access to adequate
support, says Jonas Kavaliauskas, Unive’s Co-founder and CEO.

As the cost of private admissions counselling has gone up in recent years,
we see a clear need for tools that make the application process both efficient
and equitable.
Our mission is to level the playing field by making high-quality
college and career guidance accessible for all students, regardless of their
financial circumstances.

Unive extends the traditional counselling model
by pairing AI-driven support with expert review. Students use AI to handle most
tasks, improving essays and profiles and preparing for interviews, while
admissions specialists from institutions such as Harvard, MIT, and Stanford
provide final checks or additional guidance.

The platform emphasises ethical use aligned with college policies, and it supports applicants without doing the work for them. Beyond its student
product, Unive is expanding B2B services, partnering with universities to
improve recruitment and selection.

With new funding, the company will grow its engineering, sales, and
marketing teams, enhance AI features, and expand global outreach.