Mumbai-based fractional real estate ownership platform hBits has raised Rs 20 crore (approx. $2.5 million) in an angel round of funding led by Nirmal Jain (Chairman and Founder of IIFL), Incred Capital, Jayesh Parekh (Former Managing Partner at Jungle Ventures), and Awdesh Krishna (Former Managing Director at Snow Leopark).
According to the company’s statement, the raised capital will be used to scale-up various activities, including the acquisition of new assets under management, customer acquisition, and expansion of the business to newer geographies.
The startup also looks to strengthen the technology to bring more transparency to information sharing and to increase the ease and security of transactions.
Founded in 2019 by Harvard Business School graduate Shiv Parekh, hBits operates an online platform where it offers fractional ownership to investors in grade A commercial properties by using machine learning to gather historical sale and rental data, which is available on its platform for general access.
The platform claims to have 40,000+ registered investors and around 1.5 lakh square feet of area under management in eight assets that the company manages in Mumbai.
“Fractional ownership is gaining momentum with new players joining the band. The market is becoming competitive and exciting for everyone. Investors are taking up opportunities in a day for Grade A assets. With RBI (Reserve Bank of India) raising rates and other forms of investments losing sheen, fractional ownership will result in further impetus to investing in real estate assets”, said Shiv Parekh.
Speaking on the investment, Chris Kolenaty, Founder of Snow Leopard Ventures, said “We are excited to partner with Shiv and the team at hBits. The company’s razor-sharp focus over the past few years has led to an impressive track record, sound economics and the necessary technology infrastructure to accelerate the building momentum. We see a tremendous opportunity ahead and look forward to seeing hBits delight many more customers.”
Source @Indianstartupnews
