An Oakland, CA startup building tech for prefabricated, ostensibly environmentally-friendly homes, today announced that it raised $52 million in a funding round co-led by Waed Ventures and Bold Capital with participation by Khosla Ventures.
The new tranche, which sources familiar with the matter say values the startup at between $300 million and $350 million, brings Mighty Buildings’ total raised to $150 million. CEO Scott Gebicke says that it’ll be put toward Mighty Buildings’ expansion in North America and the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, and supporting the launch of the company’s next-gen modular homebuilding kit.
Mighty Buildings was founded in 2017 by Slava Solonitsyn, Dmitry Starodubtsev, Sam Ruben and Alexey Dubov, who sought to create a platform leveraging 3D printing to help automate the construction industry, specifically the home construction industry. Gebicke, a former naval officer and previously a project lead in McKinsey’s industrial practice, was appointed CEO last December.
According to Mighty Buildings, the company will use the funds to achieve two key objectives: accelerating production at scale for the US market, and establishing production operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The governments of both the KSA and the UAE have put AC at the forefront of their long-term infrastructure plans, with the two countries unveiling increasingly ambitious AC projects over the last several years.
Mighty Buildings provides a prefabricated kit of parts to developers, who use its product to build residential structures. Initially, San Francisco-based Mighty Buildings sold prefab homes directly to customers. But within the past two years, the startup has shifted to selling whole communities of homes to developers.
The company claims its proprietary printed material, made of 60% recycled glass, is five times the strength of concrete, 70% the weight, and produces fewer carbon emissions during manufacturing. It’s also rated for winds up to 150 miles per hour — hurricane-force, in other words — and compliant with the California Building Code, including Title 24 Energy requirements and other regulatory standards.
Mighty Buildings employs ultraviolet light to cure its material off-site. This allows for “highly refined” and “unique” shapes with a range of customization options, the startup says, while reducing waste as only the material that’s required is cured.
“Our factory-based advanced manufacturing techniques deliver automotive grade quality control,” Gebicke said. “Moreover, our micro factories can be commissioned rapidly with relatively low capital expenditure, enabling production at scale.”.
From articles in TechCrunch and 3D Print
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Gary Fleisher, the Modcoach
