iStockNEW DELHI: BASIC Home Loan, a Gurugram-based startup developing a platform for automating home loans for middle and low-income households in India, has raised $3.5 million in a Series A funding led by Venture Catalysts (VCats) and Gruhas Proptech along with other VC funds including Earlsfield Capital and Good Capital. BASIC’s existing investor Picus Capital also reinvested in this round.
“We are working towards making home loans simpler, transparent and BASIC for low income households. We have had a great start in our journey, creating a strong distribution network in affordable housing hotspots in 15 cities in the first 12 months,” said Atul Monga, Co-Founder & CEO, BASIC Home Loan.
The funding was followed by a $500,000 Seed round from Picus Capital, a Germany-based early-stage technology investment firm in October 2020.
“We have been overwhelmed by the interest that ecosystem players such as real estate developers and housing finance companies have shown in partnering and investing with us in achieving the goal of ‘Housing for All’. We would further strengthen our distribution across 40+ cities along with digitization of credit processes during the next phase,” Monga added.
The round also saw participation from super angels and family offices including Haldiram’s, LetsVenture syndicate led by Anupam Mittal, Promoters of Sapient Wealth, Amit Nanavati, Dhruv Dhanraj Bahl (COO, BharatPe through Bharat Founders Fund), Parag Shah (Managing Partner, Mahindra Partners), Alex Babu (Founder Hedge Finance) and Alex Lin (CEO, Outlier) among others.
“This is one of the largest deals on our platform. In a country where affordable and quality housing is still a faraway dream for many as they have to go through various pain points just to get a loan, BASIC is solving a major problem in automating housing loans through a phygital approach,” said Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder of early-stage investor VCats Group.
Some leaders from real estate community such as Jatin and Mohit Goel (Omaxe Ltd), Binitha Dalal (Rustomjee Group), and Karishma Thakker (Thakker Developers), invested in BASIC as well, to leverage on the unique automation play it's building for real estate companies.
"We were impressed by the way BASIC Home Loan has used the Phygital approach to keep the cost variable in order to achieve positive unit economics, that too for small ticket affordable home loans, at which even the biggest of the financial institutions struggle,” said Abhijeet Pai of Gruhas Proptech.
Founded during the first wave of pandemic last year, BASIC's vision is to digitise the home loans process and increase affordable loans penetration for mid-and low-income households in India through a ‘phygital’ approach. In its first 12 months, BASIC has disbursed Rs 400 cr of loans in 15+ cities. The company plans to achieve a monthly loan disbursal run rate of Rs 200 cr and hire 300+ people in the workforce by March 2022.
“We are very impressed by the speed at which the BASIC team has entered the market and made a significant contribution to the affordable housing sector,” said Oliver Heinrich, Partner at Picus Capital.
The company has 25+ bank partners on board right now. Nearly 25% of loans disbursed through BASIC are with Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojna applications and 30% for construction of new housing units.
“We are working towards making home loans simpler, transparent and BASIC for low income households. We have had a great start in our journey, creating a strong distribution network in affordable housing hotspots in 15 cities in the first 12 months,” said Atul Monga, Co-Founder & CEO, BASIC Home Loan.
The funding was followed by a $500,000 Seed round from Picus Capital, a Germany-based early-stage technology investment firm in October 2020.
“We have been overwhelmed by the interest that ecosystem players such as real estate developers and housing finance companies have shown in partnering and investing with us in achieving the goal of ‘Housing for All’. We would further strengthen our distribution across 40+ cities along with digitization of credit processes during the next phase,” Monga added.
The round also saw participation from super angels and family offices including Haldiram’s, LetsVenture syndicate led by Anupam Mittal, Promoters of Sapient Wealth, Amit Nanavati, Dhruv Dhanraj Bahl (COO, BharatPe through Bharat Founders Fund), Parag Shah (Managing Partner, Mahindra Partners), Alex Babu (Founder Hedge Finance) and Alex Lin (CEO, Outlier) among others.
“This is one of the largest deals on our platform. In a country where affordable and quality housing is still a faraway dream for many as they have to go through various pain points just to get a loan, BASIC is solving a major problem in automating housing loans through a phygital approach,” said Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder of early-stage investor VCats Group.
Some leaders from real estate community such as Jatin and Mohit Goel (Omaxe Ltd), Binitha Dalal (Rustomjee Group), and Karishma Thakker (Thakker Developers), invested in BASIC as well, to leverage on the unique automation play it's building for real estate companies.
"We were impressed by the way BASIC Home Loan has used the Phygital approach to keep the cost variable in order to achieve positive unit economics, that too for small ticket affordable home loans, at which even the biggest of the financial institutions struggle,” said Abhijeet Pai of Gruhas Proptech.
Founded during the first wave of pandemic last year, BASIC's vision is to digitise the home loans process and increase affordable loans penetration for mid-and low-income households in India through a ‘phygital’ approach. In its first 12 months, BASIC has disbursed Rs 400 cr of loans in 15+ cities. The company plans to achieve a monthly loan disbursal run rate of Rs 200 cr and hire 300+ people in the workforce by March 2022.
“We are very impressed by the speed at which the BASIC team has entered the market and made a significant contribution to the affordable housing sector,” said Oliver Heinrich, Partner at Picus Capital.
The company has 25+ bank partners on board right now. Nearly 25% of loans disbursed through BASIC are with Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojna applications and 30% for construction of new housing units.
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