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This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English. Click here to read the original article.
Thousands of professionals are working in Silicon Valley, working on cutting-edge projects to change the world through technology. However, beyond the technological giants, many of these privileged minds seek success on their own in the San Francisco Bay with other businesses.
This is the case of former employees of Amazon, Tesla or Google who have seen in the construction sector an opportunity to explore a growing market. In addition, important accelerators such as Y Combinator have opted for 'startups' that offer new housing solutions.
For almost two years, Aaron Holm worked in product management for Amazon Go and Amazon Books. However, in November 2015, he decided to embark on a new path and think of a solution to "make housing more accessible and affordable for all." In March 2016 he presented Blokable, a Seattle-based startup that uses a modular construction system to design homes online and then install them in record time.
Thus, from your website you can order the construction you need: for example, a single module of 24 square meters can be used as a small house or join with others to create offices or commercial spaces and even communities with several buildings. In addition, each block has an intelligent management platform called BlockSense. Thanks to this system, it will be possible to control the energy, water or security systems and it is even possible to program it in night mode or on vacation.
In addition, being able to be easily transported in trucks or trains, the company considers it a solution to establish emergency housing in areas hit by disasters. For this, they intend to create smart homes for about $ 65,000.
At the moment, their units are not sold directly to the owners, but are available to companies that want to address the housing crisis. The first ones were installed in Edmonds, in the state of Washington and for this summer they are expected to also arrive in Auburn (Alabama) or East Palo Alto (California).
Michael Marks was one of the first investors of Tesla and in 2007 he went on to lead the prestigious automotive company for a few months as CEO. He had previously been CEO of Flextronics, dedicated to the manufacture of electronic components. He has also invested and managed other leading companies, until in 2015 he decided to move to the construction sector. Then, along with two other well-known investors Jim Davidson and Fritz H. Wollf, he founded Katerra, a 'startup' dedicated to the manufacture and assembly of modular homes.
In this way, Katerra can manufacture a wall (with windows included) and then install it in a building until carrying out the entire design and construction process of a complete home. Currently, Katerra, based in Menlo Park (California), is known for its glued and cross laminated wood constructions.
At the end of last year, the company received an investment of 865 million dollars (almost 700 million euros) from the Japanese telecommunications giant Softbank. An injection of capital that, they claim, will be allocated to the opening of new factories and to the research and development of new materials.
Some of these entrepreneurs are not only betting on building new homes, but also have thought it necessary to improve the machinery and tools of the sector. This is the case of computer scientist and economist Noah Ready-Campbell, who worked as product manager at Google for a while and then founded a second-hand clothing company that ended up selling to eBay.
When I was working in Mountain View, this born entrepreneur was struck by the project of autonomous cars in which the giant began to work. Years later, and with the most advanced robotic technology, he decided to put it at the service of the construction sector with his 'startup' Built Robotics. During the last two years, the company has been developing the 'software' and sensors needed to automate excavators so that they can work on their own, with total precision and in record time.
The first tests have been a success and now they hope to soon bring the product to market. For this, at the end of 2017, this 'startup' managed to raise 15 million dollars (about 12 million euros), with which they will also expand their workforce.
Today, anyone visiting their headquarters in San Francisco can see a self-contained mini-excavator. However, it is not the only thing that they want to commercialize from Built Robotics. They also intend to sell sensor kits for machines from other companies, such as renting complete technology for projects.
For his part, Oren Cohen, a former HP worker, saw the need to improve the construction processes. So in 2013, together with his partner Yael Sherman, he created the Buildup web platform that facilitates communication between architects, contractors and the rest of the personnel involved in the construction. Through it and also from its mobile application, any of the participants can present task lists, assign them, share technical documents and perform quality controls.
In the beginning, Buildup raised 1.6 million dollars (about 1.3 million euros) and at the end of 2017 it obtained another 7 million dollars (more than 5 million euros) that will allow it to expand its engineering, sales and sales teams. marketing ', according to the company.
In addition, the high price of housing in Silicon Valley where neither the engineers of Apple and Google can buy a house. Faced with this situation, one of the first to react has been Google, which has ordered 300 modular homes for its employees to the 'startup' Factory OS.
This means that employees, who must pay a rent for the house, save up to 700 dollars (about 565 euros) per month due to the lower costs of modular construction (they are between 20 and 50% cheaper than traditional ).
Also the interest for the new houses has arrived at the incubator of companies Y Combinator, cradle of the successful Airbnb, Dropbox or Reddit. Among its recent bets is the 'startup' Acre Designs, which creates prefabricated and energy efficient homes. Although, for the moment, the smallest and cheapest model amounts to more than $ 300,000 (almost 250,000 euros), its creators are also thinking of designing more affordable alternatives to expand their market.
So in Silicon Valley, the cradle of innovation, interesting projects related to the construction sector are also being born, which also tries to adapt to technological changes.