Bengaluru-based NBFC Vridhi Home Finance has raised INR 150 Cr in a Series A round of funding led by Elevation Capital. The startup has been bootstrapped so far. It received its NBFC – HFC license earlier this year and has opened twenty branches across Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh since then.
The funds raised will be deployed towards geo-expansion in North Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, strengthening the tech stack, hiring, and building a liability franchise.
Vridhi Home Finance was launched in 2022 by Sunku Ram Naresh, the founder, MD, and CEO, along with co-founders Sandeep Arora (COO) and Sunil Mehta (CFO).
With a combined experience exceeding 75+ years in the mortgage segment among the co-founders and the founding team, Vridhi aims to create a channel for secured housing loans, serving salaried and self-employed individuals in tier 2/3 cities across India.
It focuses on providing secured housing loans with an average ticket size of INR 6 Lakhs – INR 8 Lakhs to the salaried and self-employed, who previously faced challenges in accessing formal credit.
In order to achieve this, the startup is collaborating with leading providers of loan management software (LMS) and digital onboarding systems, ensuring a scalable, paperless and reliable operational process.
The housing finance segment in India is highly underpenetrated and showcases immense headroom for growth with the AUM on housing loans at ~$300 Bn, which grew at a CAGR of ~12% over FY 18-21.
According to Mridul Arora, Partner, Elevation Capital, India’s mortgage market remains underpenetrated compared to several other emerging and developing economies at just ~11% of GDP, indicating a significant headroom to grow.
“Vridhi is democratising access to credit for a massively underserved population, thereby bolstering financial inclusion,” he added.
In April 2022, Elevation capital launched a $670 Mn fund to invest in consumer tech and brands, fintech, SaaS and Web3 startups. Earlier this year, Elevation Capital also saw a part exit from XpressBees by selling a portion of its stake to Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah for $40 Mn, besides investing in Rigi, Fashinza and Bluelearn.
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