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.

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.

“The moment you pour concrete in any building, it takes 28 days to attain full strength.The concrete that we have developed gets to full strength in just a few hours,” said Ravichandran.

Additionally, Modulus uses cloud manufacturing techniques to bring efficiency to its processes. Cloud manufacturing works on the principles of cloud computing which allows companies to access and share resources like software, equipment, and capabilities on-demand over the internet.

Modulus claims to operate in more than 21 states and has close to 10 manufacturing plants all over India. The startup claims to have executed more than 1,200 projects and counts the likes of Indian Oil, Tata Group, L&T and others as its customers.

Modulus generates a large chunk of its revenue from executing government and private sector projects.

According to the filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Modulus saw its operating revenue rise 38% to INR 54.8 Cr Cr in FY24 from INR 39.1 Cr in the previous fiscal year. However, net profit shrunk 33% to INR 1.6 Cr from INR 2.4 Cr in FY24.

Competing with the likes of Tata Steel-backed Nest-In, Loom Crafts and Pressmach, Modulus operates in the broader Indian prefabricated buildings market, which is projected to become a $15 Bn opportunity by 2033.

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