UPDATED, May 14, 11:32 a.m.: A startup that aims to streamline the process of developing modern, eco-friendly prefabricated homes closed its first round of financing.
Connect Homes secured $10.8 million in a Series A funding round, the company said. The money will be used to build and expand on what it calls its patented modular technology.
Brick & Mortar Ventures and Virgo Investments led the round. MetaProp — the New York-based venture capital fund and startup accelerator — Almubader Growth Fund and Wells Fargo Strategic Capital also invested.
In September, Amazon’s Alexa Fund was one of the investors in a Series A funding round for another startup, Plant Prefab. That company, which manufactures custom single- and multifamily homes, raised $6.7 million in that round.
Downtown Los Angeles-based Connect Homes was founded in 2013 by architects Jared Levy and Gordon Stott, who previously worked at Marmol Radziner Prefab.
Connect Homes has 10 models of prefab homes that start at around $182,000 for a 460-square-foot home. They can range up to $900,000 for a 3,200-square-foot home. The estimated project budget includes design, production, installation, sales tax and on-site work.
The company completes about 90 percent of the home modules in its San Bernardino factory. It also manufactures accessory dwelling units — so-called granny flats — which have gained popularity as a stop-gap solution to the region’s housing crisis.
Los Angeles officials have also encouraged modular housing as a way to build more affordable housing. In New York, the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development issued a request for proposals for modular construction last year, asking for projects that are “100 percent affordable.”