Fintech startup HomeCapital secures pre-Series A funding

HomeCapital, a fintech startup which helps first-time home buyers make down payments, has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A funding round led by Astarc Ventures.

Funding and incubation platform Venture Catalysts, Anand Piramal of Piramal Group, Singapore Angel Network, mentoring platform Venture Gurukool and hybrid growth fund Samyakth Capital also participated in this round.

Gaurav Gandhi of Essgee group, and angel investors Shalin Shah and Anuj Golecha put in money as well, HomeCapital said in a statement. Golecha is the co-founder of Venture Catalysts and Samyakth Capital.

HomeCapital, owned and operated by HomeVille Consulting Pvt Ltd, said it will use the funds to expand its business, scale its technology infrastructure and strengthen its workforce.

The company, with its network-based business model, provides first-time home buyers with up to half of the down payment required at zero interest cost. It offers down payment assistance through partner financial institutions on the projects listed on the platform.

HomeCapital was founded in early 2017 by IIM Calcutta alumnus Lalit Menghani. Prior to starting up, Menghani worked as an associate director at real estate-focussed private equity firm Milestone Capital Advisors.

“We have achieved a very strong business validation for the network-based home down payment assistance business model for solving the key problem for first-time home buyers. We will continue to build the network exponentially,” Menghani said.

The company claims to have helped close to 500 users in the past eight months.

In October 2017, the company had raised an undisclosed amount of seed capital from Venture Catalysts. A number of individual investors including Anuj Golecha, Gaurav Gandhi, Ram Joukani, Gaurav Singhvi and Vishal Jhunjhunwala had also invested.

“Home ownership has been a deep-routed aspiration for all Indians and HomeCapital solves a very deep problem for prospective home buyers,” said Hari Krishnan, fund manager at Astarc Ventures. “We are very excited about vertical-based lending opportunities.”