Modulus Housing Nets INR 70 Cr To Make Low-Rise Buildings In 30 Days

Delays in construction projects is not a new thing in India. A May 2024 report by the ministry of statistics on infrastructure projects states that more than 800 out of the 1,800+ ongoing projects (at the time) were running behind schedule. These projects had an average overrun time period of close to three years.

Recognising this gap, Shree Ram Ravichandran, a civil engineer and IIT Madras alumnus, teamed up with his school friend Gobinath P and founded Modulus Housing in 2018. The Chennai-based real estate tech startup leverages its proprietary tech stack to build low-rise prefabricated buildings in a month.

After eight years of perfecting its recipe and growing scale, Modulus has now raised INR 70 Cr (about $7.8 Mn) in its maiden funding round co-led by Kalaari Capital, Hero and Samarthya Investments.

The round also saw participation from SVAS Strategic Management, Sigma, Zetwerk cofounder Srinath Ramakkrushnan, and others.

The recent funding proceeds will be deployed in four strategic areas. First, the startup will focus on expanding its operations in India and other global markets. Secondly, it plans to shore up its R&D activity efforts to launch “next generation” concrete modular systems.

Thirdly, a chunk of the capital will go towards expanding its cloud manufacturing infrastructure and lastly, it will double down on lightweight green concrete tech stack for construction.

Fixing Construction Overruns

Buoyed by its proprietary tech stack, the Chennai-based proptech startup claims that it can build certain prefabricated buildings in under 30 days. As per the company, these low-rise construction projects can be used for emergency healthcare units, clinics, storage solutions for warehousing, EV charging stations, and on-site offices for construction companies.

For the uninitiated, prefabricated buildings are structures which are built from components manufactured off-site in a factory and are then transported to the construction site for assembly.

According to Ravichandran, the startup has introduced innovations at two levels to achieve speed – construction materials and the manufacturing process. For instance, Modulus uses its proprietary concrete base which can be prepared faster than the regular standard time. It also claims to have deployed its patented manufacturing processes to quicken its assembly lines.