Founders: Lakshya Daga & Siddharth Jain
Founding: 2023
Mission: Empowering prospective students to make informed higher education decisions while supporting colleges and universities in achieving enrollment success.
Employees: 18
Workplace: Hybrid
Stage: Seed
Investors: Techstars
Key Customers: Simmons University, Trinity College, Connecticut College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), Babson College, New England Law Boston, MGH Institute of Health Professions
Glassdoor Rating: N/A
Valuation (estimated): <$25M (assuming average equity dilution in the initial fundraise)
^ this is a useless number from MGMT Boston. There is no tangible valuation until the business is sold or goes public. Don’t forget it!
TruLeague is a software platform for higher education institutions to build authentic connections between their prospective students and families with their campus community students, alumni, faculty and staff. This early stage team is blending authentic peer-to-peer connections with smart AI-powered insights to help colleges and universities grow enrollment yield and better serve student needs.
Founder & CEO Lakshya Daga grew up in India. He experienced the challenges of pursuing higher education abroad – navigating applications, selecting the right college, transitioning and adapting to a new place, and making hard decisions – without easy access to peer support. After he enrolled locally at Babson College, in conversations with several students, he learned he wasn’t alone.
It turns out many prospective and admitted higher education students value peer opinions from those who have ‘been there, done that’ when making these crucial decisions. So Lakshya teamed up with Siddharth Jain to build a platform that could bridge the information gap between prospective and current students or alumni, demystify the application & enrollment process for prospective students, and help institutions better engage, support, yield and retain those students.
College enrollment peaked in 2010 at 21M students and has fallen to 19.28M in 2024, down ~8% (src). It’s gotten more expensive (we certainly don’t need to pull stats to know that) and competition for fewer students puts pressure on institutions. Colleges and graduate programs must meet students where they are at, not just through rankings or facilities, but by fostering authentic connections with students who expect transparency and personalization.
TruLeague provides personalized engagement at scale by digitizing the institution’s ambassador program. Prospective and admitted students get fast, real, human connections to peers at their target schools. Institutions then gain valuable insights into prospective student behavior, interests, and pain points. This helps better shape marketing and enrollment strategies by understanding student sentiment, enrollment intent, and key questions and concerns of their future community members.
Today, Truleague is working with almost a dozen institutions including Babson College, Simmons University, WPI, Connecticut College, Trinity College, New England Law Boston, MGH Institute of Health Professions, and others. In 2025, they plan to grow to dozens of higher education institutions across the country while supporting students from around the world.
Simmons University saw a 15% increase in enrollment yield (students who accepted offers) for graduate admissions, which translated to 75 new students for Fall 2024. That drives real revenue impact! At WPI, 2,000 messages were exchanged between international prospective students and their student ambassadors, driving meaningful conversations and massive impact, in the first eight months alone.
Truleague’s core product advantages boil down to ease of use. Their platform feels natural for students and institutions with a simple onboarding. Institutions can seamlessly integrate TruLeague into their existing digital infrastructure, access dashboards providing real-time insights to track student engagement across domestic and international prospects, to drive enrollment success.
From 2023 to 2024, the TruLeague team more than tripled their revenue growth and surpassed a six digit annual revenue run rate. TruLeague is a 2024 Techstars Boston graduate and was recognized as a Poets & Quants Most Disruptive Startup of 2023. Founder and CEO, Lakshya Daga, delivered a TEDx talk on his journey and mission at Babson College. Co-founder Siddharth’s book, Snapshots From Heaven, supporting students in their educational journeys was picked up by one of India’s largest publishing houses. Alexandra Edström, TruLeague’s founding partnerships manager, plays a pivotal role in driving customer acquisition and supporting partner institutions.
The company is selectively growing the team, with a plan to add marketing, business development, and customer success talent here in Boston that’s aligned with its mission and culture. Team members who have personally lived the challenges they’re solving, with the passion to commit to that work every day, are in their sweet spot!
Operators to Know:
- Vikram Madhu, Senior Product Designer
My investigative powers continue to need work so apologies to the TruLeague team I know I missed some up & coming operators internally
Key Roles To Be Hired:
- More roles coming soon!
If I were interviewing here are some questions I’d ask:
- What is TruLeague’s biggest focus for 2025?
- What are the biggest challenges as you scale the team & customer base this year?
- What is the long term vision for the company?
- What are the most important roles you’ll be looking to add in 2025 // teams that need the most help?
We’re optimizing for readability here so to learn more about TruLeague you’ll have to D.Y.O.R. I’m excited to watch this team bring more universities into the age of AI and foster more authentic student-to-student connections. All students applaud your efforts. See you around local campuses!