Billion Bricks

BillionBricks is a private company dedicated to addressing the global housing crisis by developing sustainable and scalable solutions for homelessness. The firm was co-founded in 2013 by architect Prasoon Kumar and investor Anurag Srivastava. Kumar, with over a decade of experience in architecture and urban planning across various cities, channeled his expertise into creating housing solutions after a profound experience with a homeless family in Mumbai. This led to the establishment of BillionBricks as a non-profit entity initially, before transitioning into a for-profit enterprise to better scale its impact.

The company's core business revolves around the design and development of self-financing, carbon-negative solar homes and communities. Their primary clients are developers, landowners, and corporations who invest in these communities. The business model is structured around creating a commercially attractive proposition for these investors. BillionBricks generates revenue through the sale of these housing communities to their partners. The homes are designed to be energy-sufficient, producing their own power through integrated solar panels. This feature allows homeowners to sell surplus energy back to the grid, creating an income stream that helps finance the home over time, making it an asset rather than a liability for the financially-vulnerable families they aim to serve.

The flagship product is the PowerHYDE house, a prefabricated, modular home that can be assembled on-site. These homes are designed to be affordable and are equipped with rooftop solar facilities capable of generating enough energy to power the home and produce a surplus. A key selling point is the home's ability to be financially self-sustaining for its inhabitants through energy sales. Furthermore, BillionBricks is developing the world's first self-financing solar home community in the Philippines, a project that will house 1,600 people and feature a 1.5-megawatt solar facility. This initiative underscores the company's approach of combining sustainable building practices with a viable financial model to create scalable solutions to homelessness. Keywords: sustainable housing, social enterprise, affordable homes, solar energy, carbon-negative, prefabricated homes, housing crisis, impact investing, renewable energy, real estate development