New Delhi, Aug. 5 -- Gurugram-based Ummeed Housing Finance, which counts A91 Partners and Norwest Venture Partners as its investors, has secured debt capital from an overseas investor.
The non-banking financial company, which operates in the affordable housing finance segment, has raised Rs 250 crore (around $28 million) from British International Investment(BII).
The funding will be deployed as mortgage-backed loans to underserved borrowers, with a strong emphasis on empowering them through property ownership and financial inclusion. These loans will support homeownership, Ummeed Housing stated in a press release issued on Tuesday.
Further, the housing finance company said that the funding will aim to empower up to 3,000 female customers through property ownership and financial inclusion through mortgage-backed loans. This investment would qualify for the 2X Challenge, a global initiative to channel funds into projects that empower women.
BII is the UK's development finance institution and impact investor. The company has investments in over 1,600 businesses across 70 countries and total net assets of £9.87 billion. BII has previously bet on financial services entities like Veritas Finance and RBL Bank, and Namdev Finvest among others.
BII's new commitments to India across asset classes more than doubled year-on-year to £364.6 million (Rs 4,206 crore) in 2024 from £148.6 million in 2023. This took its portfolio value in India to $2.45 billion by the end of calendar year 2024.
Ummeed Housing commenced operations in August 2016 and is focussed on providing finance to underbanked customers from tier-II to tier IV cities, with informal income and with limited or no credit history. The company primarily operates in northern and western India through a network of 142 branches across nine states and union territories.
The company's net profit rose to Rs 59 crore in FY25 from Rs 53 crore a year ago, aided by a growth in the loan book. The total managed assets rose to Rs 2,362 crore from Rs 1,828 crore over the same period, documents accessed by VCCircle showed.
The housing finance firm last raised equity in 2024, when it raised around $76 million in a Series F funding from A91 Emerging Fund II, Mirae Asset Venture Investments(India), Anicut Capital, and Norwest Venture Partners. Prior to this, the company had also raised funds from US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
As on March 31, the company's founder and managing director Ashutosh Sharma holds an 18.3% stake in the company on a fully-diluted basis. Apart from this, Norwest Capital owns 23.5%, Morgan Stanley owns 19.0%, A91 Partners owns 15.5%, Thyme owns 10.8%, and other investors own the remaining 12.9%.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.