A fund controlled by the ecommerce giant Amazon is among the entities that invested a total of $6.7 million in the latest round of financing raised by Plant Prefab, a design and prefabrication company with a 62,000-sf factory in Rialto, Calif., which since May 2016 has produced modules for custom single- and multifamily homes.
The sources for Plant Prefab’s Series A funding included Amazon’s Alexa Fund, which provides up to $100 million in venture capital to support voice technology innovation. “Plant Prefab is a leader in home design and an emerging, innovative player in home manufacturing. We’re thrilled to support them as they make sustainable, connected homes more accessible to customers and developers,” stated Paul Barnard, director of the Alexa Fund.
It could not be ascertained at presstime whether Amazon’s investment was contingent on Plant Prefab including voice technology in its designs and products.
Plant Prefab, which was founded in 2015, claims to be the first home factory in the U.S. that’s focused on sustainable construction, materials, processes, and operations. It also asserts that its patented building system reduces construction time by 50%, and construction cost by between 10% and 25% in major cities.
Steve Glenn, Plant Prefab’s CEO and Founder, explains that increased urbanization, coupled with a growing population and climate change concerns, are driving demand for quicker methods to build houses. He also states that more consumers are demanding homes that use less energy, water, and resources, and that minimize indoor air pollution.
Plant Prefab supplied the modules for a 16-unit dorm in Berkeley, Calif. Image: Plant Prefab
Its multifamily projects include a 16-unit, 6,600-sf dorm project for the nonprofit Urban Adamah (an educational farm and community center that integrates practices of Jewish tradition and sustainable agriculture) in Berkeley, Calif. The dorm was designed by NYC Design.
Plant Prefab’s design partners include Kiernan Timberlake and Yves Behar.
Another of Plant Prefab’s investment partners is Obvious Ventures, which supports startups that attempt to create solutions to big world problems—such as the shortage of affordable housing—in a profitable a scalable way. “With increased costs, labor shortages, reduced affordability, and the enormous impact housing has on carbon emissions, there are few challenges more important than creating more accessible, healthy housing,” said Andrew Beebe, managing director of Obvious Ventures.
Venture capitalists are placing their bets at a time when modular and prefab construction is steadily increasing for both the residential and commercial sectors. For example, this week Ramtech Building Systems announced that it had completed 11 multi-use, relocatable modular building projects. These included five portable classroom buildings to be used as offices at two separate locations for XTO Energy—four at the company's regional operations center in Carlsbad, N.M., and one at a satellite facility in Coyanosa, Texas. The other six buildings were manufactured and installed for the Loving, N.M., office and transportation center of Schlumberger, the oil drilling firm.
Turner Construction has been working on a three-story office building that was constructed in New Jersey, shipped by barge across the Hudson River to New York City in 19 sections, and assembled at night. Turner expects to complete this project by January.
Related Stories
| Sep 24, 2014
5 business lessons from a 43-year Star veteran
Mary Ed Cain was supposed to be born a boy. That was the first time she surprised everyone. The second time came on a daily basis during her 43-year career at Star Building Systems. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Sep 24, 2014
Architecture billings see continued strength, led by institutional sector
On the heels of recording its strongest pace of growth since 2007, there continues to be an increasing level of demand for design services signaled in the latest Architecture Billings Index.
| Sep 22, 2014
4 keys to effective post-occupancy evaluations
Perkins+Will's Janice Barnes covers the four steps that designers should take to create POEs that provide design direction and measure design effectiveness.
| Sep 22, 2014
Sound selections: 12 great choices for ceilings and acoustical walls
From metal mesh panels to concealed-suspension ceilings, here's our roundup of the latest acoustical ceiling and wall products.
| Sep 9, 2014
Using Facebook to transform workplace design
As part of our ongoing studies of how building design influences human behavior in today’s social media-driven world, HOK’s workplace strategists had an idea: Leverage the power of social media to collect data about how people feel about their workplaces and the type of spaces they need to succeed.
| Sep 7, 2014
Behind the scenes of integrated project delivery — successful tools and applications
The underlying variables and tools used to manage collaboration between teams is ultimately the driving for success with IPD, writes CBRE Healthcare's Megan Donham.
| Sep 3, 2014
Ranked: Top local government sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
STV, HOK, and Turner top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest local government design and construction firms, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Sep 3, 2014
New designation launched to streamline LEED review process
The LEED Proven Provider designation is designed to minimize the need for additional work during the project review process.
| Sep 2, 2014
Ranked: Top green building sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
AECOM, Gensler, and Turner top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest green design and construction firms.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction market benefits from improving economy, new technology [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Following years of fairly lackluster demand for commercial property remodeling, reconstruction revenue is improving, according to the 2014 Giants 300 report.
