Strata Revolutionizes Real Estate with Fractional Ownership of Grade-A Commercial Assets

In the traditional Indian investment landscape, commercial real estate has always been the "forbidden fruit" for the average retail investor. While Grade-A assets like premium office spaces and warehouses offered high yields and stable capital appreciation, the entry barrier was often hundreds of crores. Most people were forced into the residential market, yielding a mere 1-2% in rental returns, while the 8-9% returns of the commercial sector remained reserved for institutional titans.

Enter Sudarshan Lodha, Co-founder of Strata. A former real estate litigator and private equity lawyer, Lodha saw firsthand the friction and legal pitfalls of informal "co-investing." By building a technology-driven platform that fractionalizes premium properties, Strata is democratizing the commercial real estate (CRE) market. Today, with over ₹850 Crore in Assets Under Management (AUM) and a growing base of 18,000+ users, Strata is turning the "dream of ownership" into a tangible, digital reality for investors across Bharat.

From solving legal disputes to enabling 3,000 women to work out of their newly developed factory, Lodha’s journey is a blueprint for combining corporate governance with social impact.

The Problem: The "1500 Crore" entry Barrier

Lodha identifies a fundamental lack of accessibility in the Indian real estate market. An institutional-grade asset—say, a 1500 crore office complex in a prime location—is "no joke" for an individual to buy. Furthermore, real estate lacked the diversification offered by the stock market. If you put all your savings into one flat, you were fully exposed to that single tenant and market.

"Real estate never offered the whole concept of diversification in a big way," Lodha explains. "As a lawyer, I've seen the amount of litigation cases... where people buy together, and someone wants to lease while others don't." This informal co-ownership often led to stuck properties and years of legal battles, discouraging even the most bullish investors.

The Solution: Fractionalization and Digital Governance

Strata functions like a stock market for properties. They identify premium, rent-yielding assets (Warehousing, Office, Retail), perform deep due diligence, and then fractionalize the ownership into affordable tickets starting at ₹25 Lakhs. This allows an investor with ₹5 Crore to hedge themselves by investing across 10 different properties rather than just one.

"We are doing something very similar to shares... identifies like-minded people who are also interested to invest and enjoy monthly returns," says Lodha. Crucially, they solve the governance problem by setting digital rules on the platform. Decisions like selling the asset are handled by a 75% majority vote, preventing the "litigation deadlock" that plagues informal groups.

Implementation: Education as a Growth Hack

Lodha doesn't view Strata as a property portal; he calls it an **education company**. Their primary hurdle was convincing people that you can buy real estate online. They traveled all the way to small towns like Thanjavur to educate investors on the benefits of owning a fraction of a warehouse in Bangalore or an office in Mumbai.

"Most of our investors have become our brand ambassadors," Lodha notes. This word-of-mouth growth, combined with high-quality underwriting, has ensured that not a single opportunity on the platform has failed to date. Their 20-25% NRI user base further proves that transparency and digital document management are the ultimate trust-builders for global investors.

The Human Side: Marwadi Instincts and Dream Reality

Lodha attributes his entrepreneurial drive to his "Marwadi blood," where business goals are a part of the DNA. However, he also highlights the social high of enabling people. One of Strata's newly developed factories will soon employ 3,000 women—a "different high" for the team that goes beyond capital gains.

He defines entrepreneurship as **"chasing dreams and seeing them built in reality."** He believes that while time management is "very tough" in the early days, setting clear expectations with family is critical. "Your loved ones... need to be cordial enough to understand... but at the same time, you need to give time to yourself. Burnouts are real."

Future Vision: The 75-Second Goal

Looking ahead, Strata is rolling out debt-leveraged products to allow investors to enjoy even better capital appreciation. While their current record for funding an asset is one week, the team’s "dream" is to have investors lap up a premium property in just 75 seconds. The vision is to build an ecosystem where commercial real estate is as liquid and transparent as the stock market.

Key Takeaways for Founders

• Governance is a Moat: In industries like real estate, solving the legal friction (deadlocks, litigation) is as valuable as the asset itself.
• Focus on Relationship, not Transaction: Especially in wealth-tech, building long-term trust with investors is the ultimate "insider hack."
• Diversification is the Thumb Rule: Build products that allow your users to hedge their risks. A happy, hedged customer is a repeat customer.
• Listen to Constructive Feedback: No one is an expert on Day 1. Get your feet dirty on the ground to find that final 10% of product-market fit.

Strata is more than an investment platform; it's a bridge between the aspirations of retail investors and the high-performance assets of corporate India. For Sudarshan Lodha, the journey is about turning the complex legal and financial world of real estate into a source of passive income and national growth. By fractionalizing the future, he is ensuring that everyone has a stake in Bharat’s commercial boom.