Ummeed In News

India's Ummeed Housing Finance raises $76m from A91 Partners, Mirae, others

Gurugram-based Ummeed Housing Finance (UHFPL) on Tuesday announced that it has raised $76 million in funding from A91 Partners LLP, Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India), Anicut Capital and existing investor Norwest Venture Partners.

The development was first reported by DealStreetAsia in February this year.

The fundraise provided an exit for Lightrock Global Fund S.A, which had invested in Ummeed in 2018, the company said in a statement. Other significant investors in the company include Ashutosh Sharma (Founder & MD), Morgan Stanley, and CX Partners.

The fresh infusion into the company involves a primary component of about $36 million which will be used to drive the company’s expansion in central and southern parts of India, the statement added.

“With this equity infusion, we are well-positioned to execute our ambitious growth plan, focusing on housing loans and small ticket business loans for informal income segments, steadily building a granular portfolio that reflects our staunch commitment to inclusive financial solutions,” said Ashutosh Sharma, founder & MD of Ummeed Housing Finance.

Founded in 2016 by Sharma, Ummeed provides affordable housing loans and secured small-ticket business loans to self-employed individuals in the low- and middle-income categories. It boasts a network of 115 branches (tier 2, 3, and 4 locations) in northern and central India. The company has disbursed loans amounting to Rs 2,840 crore to over 35,000 underserved customers since its inception and has an AUM of over Rs 1,800 crore as of May 2024.

Late last year, Ummeed Housing Finance made headlines when it raised about $20 million in debt funding from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to ramp up affordable housing finance for the underserved and underbanked population.

Prior to that, it raised around $40 million in two tranches in 2021 from Norwest Venture Partners and Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia in its Series E round. The company also counts LGT Lightstone Aspada and CX Partners among its backers.

With the proposed ongoing investment in capacity building through people, technology, systems, processes and capital, the company is looking to tap the large underserved affordable housing finance market, which is expected to grow from Rs 31 trillion to Rs 57 trillion by 2028, and target an addressable credit gap of Rs 85 trillion in the business loan segment, the statement said.

Ummeed currently operates through a team of 1,300 employees and 115 branches. More than 70% of the company’s target customer segment is in the self-employed category with an average ticket size of Rs 8 lakh.

DC Advisory India was the exclusive financial advisor to Ummeed and its existing shareholders.