‘Just because I am a founder’: $1.2 billion fintech CEO says bank rejected his home loan

3 min readNew DelhiJul 15, 2026 03:41 PM IST

Jadhav also said his CIBIL score is above 800, a level generally associated with strong creditworthiness.

Getting a home loan is usually easier for people with a strong credit history and long-standing banking relationships. But for Pravin Jadhav, founder and CEO of Raise Financial Services, those factors were not enough.

In a post Wednesday, Jadhav wrote on X that a leading private bank rejected his home loan application “just because I am a founder” and also pointed out that the same bank had honoured him as one of the country’s top fintech innovators.

“They can give loan to team members our company employs, but not me – because as founder I’m high risk category,” he added.

He said he has been banking with the institution for more than 25 years and believes he is among its top 0.1% customers by assets. “5x-6x of loan value in relationship with this bank.”

Jadhav also said his CIBIL score is above 800, a level generally associated with strong creditworthiness.

“They can give loan to team members our company employs, but not me – because as founder I’m high risk category. Damn… lagta hai office mein hi rehna padega zindagi bhar… (seems like I will have to live in the office all my life)”

Read his post here:

Founder’s life is hard!

My home loan application got rejected by a top private bank – just because I am a founder.

> 25 years+ of customer

> ~800 CIBIL Score

> 5x-6x of loan value in relationship with this bank

> may be in top 0.1% of its customers by assets

> and irony is this…

— pj (@BeingPractical) July 14, 2026

Jadhav one of the three co-founders of a billion-dollar fintech company. Raise Financial Services is the parent of stock trading platform Dhan. In October 2025, the Mumbai-based startup raised $120 million in a Series B funding round led by Hornbill Capital, pushing its valuation to $1.2 billion and helping it join India’s unicorn club.

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‘That’s how the system is built’

The post quickly gained traction, with many X users sharing their own theories and experiences.

“Reminds of a popular heard on the street gossip pre-2010: when a bank refused a famous industrialist business loan, the bank’s price faced a huge correction because of various false narratives, during which period the industrialist group bought/raised stake in that bank,” one user recalled.

“That’s how the system is built! to enforce labor so you can enjoy the perks of being a labor, the system is working exactly as it’s designed to,” another person commented.

“in case you want to sell some secondaries to not take a loan, im happy to make you an offer,” a third user said.

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Another founder offered a tongue-in-cheek explanation. “As a Founder, we’re always in high risk category because we can close the 30 yr loan in 3 yrs with one big financial event happening with us. Banks will lose 27 years of Interest income, that’s why high risk.”