Constructing Solutions For Every Terrain
At IIT Madras, experimentation shaped Shreeram Ravichandran’s journey, leading him to co-found Modulus Housing and industrialise rapid, modular construction solutions.
Shreeram Ravichandran, Co-founder and CEO of Modulus Housing
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Shreeram Ravichandran did not plan to build houses; at IIT Madras, a culture of building, questioning, and experimentation shaped his path more than corporate ambition. “At IIT Madras, starting something of your own felt natural, not risky,” said Ravichandran, Co-founder and CEO of Modulus Housing. Spaces like the Centre for Innovation and Nirmaan helped turn curiosity into early prototypes, making entrepreneurship feel accessible right after graduation.
Soon after leaving campus, Ravichandran and P Gobinath co-founded Modulus Housing in 2018. As first-generation entrepreneurs, they held majority ownership and actively shaped the company’s technology, vision, and execution. During the Chennai floods of 2015–16, Ravichandran witnessed families losing homes and facing years-long rebuilding timelines. “We realised conventional construction simply could not respond at the speed people needed,” he recalled.
The effort to design rapid-deployment shelters soon expanded into a larger insight. Rural and remote construction, Ravichandran noticed, struggled with the same constraints as disaster zones: limited labour, weak infrastructure, and poor connectivity. “It felt strange that smartphones reached every village, but basic buildings did not,” he mentioned. That gap pushed him to believe that construction, like manufacturing, could be industrialised.
Modulus Housing focused on factory-built, low-rise structures that could be transported, assembled quickly, and even relocated. The company developed patented systems that reduced build times drastically. Portability became central to its thinking. “Infrastructure should not become a stranded asset,” Shreeram explained.
Till date, Modulus Housing claims to have built close to 1,400+ buildings across 21 states. “We have worked extensively in public infrastructure with state and central governments, including projects supported by the Asian Development Bank and the Gates Foundation, as well as CSR initiatives of Fortune 500 companies such as Mastercard, Lenovo, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo,” he shared. “In particularly tough geographies like Meghalaya and Nagaland, over 450 buildings have been delivered.” In one year alone, the team built 150+ hospitals across 25 districts of Bihar.
By 2025, the company raised its first institutional funding round after years of bootstrapped, profitable growth. That year also marked a shift toward serving private and enterprise clients with distributed infrastructure needs.
Looking ahead, Modulus Housing centres on scale, standardisation, and global relevance. “We want modular construction to become a repeatable industrial product,” said Shreeram, as the company deepens its presence in core sectors, expands across India, and explores Africa and South-East Asia with portable, factory-built systems.
Facts
- Name and Designation: Shreeram Ravichandran, Co-founder and CEO
- Age (as of February 1, 2026): 29
- Number of Co-founders: 2 (Shreeram Ravichandran and P Gobinath)
- Number of Employees: 80
- Year of Inception: 2018
- External Investors: Kalaari Capital, Hero, Samarthya, EIC (a Japanese fund), and angel investors including Srinath (Founder, Zetwerk) and more
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Shreeram Ravichandran did not plan to build houses; at IIT Madras, a culture of building, questioning, and experimentation shaped his path more than corporate ambition. “At IIT Madras, starting something of your own felt natural, not risky,” said Ravichandran, Co-founder and CEO of Modulus Housing. Spaces like the Centre for Innovation and Nirmaan helped turn curiosity into early prototypes, making entrepreneurship feel accessible right after graduation.
Soon after leaving campus, Ravichandran and P Gobinath co-founded Modulus Housing in 2018. As first-generation entrepreneurs, they held majority ownership and actively shaped the company’s technology, vision, and execution. During the Chennai floods of 2015–16, Ravichandran witnessed families losing homes and facing years-long rebuilding timelines. “We realised conventional construction simply could not respond at the speed people needed,” he recalled.
