Bharat Housing Network

About Bharat Housing Network

Bharat Housing Network operates as a specialized co-lending platform focused on India's affordable housing sector. Founded in 2020 by Madhusudan Sharma, Lalit Menghani, and Prasad Ajinkya, the Bengaluru-based company aims to simplify and expedite the process for affordable housing loans. The founders, alumni of IIM, possess over 17 years of combined experience in finance, technology, and real estate, which informs the company's strategic direction.

The firm's primary clients are housing finance companies (HFCs) and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). It provides them with essential capital, a robust technology backbone, and infrastructure to extend housing credit, particularly at the grassroots level in Tier II and Tier III cities. This model enables lending partners to build their priority sector loan portfolios without substantial upfront capital and operational spending. The platform primarily serves the low-income group and economically weaker sections of society, with a significant focus on including women as borrowers or co-borrowers. By November 2023, the network had onboarded 23 financial institutions and was delivering capital across 200 locations in 12 states.

The core of Bharat Housing Network's offering is its technology platform, which facilitates the flow of capital and technology adoption within the affordable housing ecosystem. It is built on micro-services and features a digital mortgage stack, a unified API architecture, and a flexible business rule engine to streamline lending processes. The company operates on a hybrid capital model, utilizing both on- and off-balance-sheet lending to fuel its operations. A significant milestone was achieved in November 2023 when the company raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by NABVENTURES, with participation from investors like Varanium NexGen Fund, 9Unicorns, and Riverwalk Holdings. This capital is intended to expand its affordable mortgage assets and enhance its technology platform, with a target to reach $500 million in gross disbursements within three years.