US architectural 3D printing ICON received US$207 million in Series B financing, from printing houses to lunar launch pads

August 26, 2021, the United States
architecture
3D printingThe company ICON announced that it has received US$207 million (approximately RMB 1.34 billion) in Series B
Financing
, This round of financing was led by Norwest Venture Partners.
ICON has developed rapidly in just a few years, from printing simple
House
, To a multi-storey building, to a small town, and even a lunar launch pad, as well as a simulated Martian environment.

After obtaining the B round of financing, ICON’s total financing amount reached 266 million US dollars. ICON said that it would “will
housing
Bringing architecture to the modern world”. Jeff Crowe of Norwest Venture Partners has joined ICON’s board of directors and will provide support to ICON, including accelerating technology research and development, expanding production capacity, and expanding the team of engineers, architects, and operations leaders.

Jason Ballard, CEO of ICON, said: “Since 2018, ICON’s main job has been to evolve technology from prototypes to reliable products and services that can be used in the world. This requires dozens of basic engineering, scientific and architectural aspects. We are very proud of our achievements today. In the next step, we will increase the speed and prepare to expand.”

How ICON raised US$266 million

In October 2018, Oakhouse Partners led the first round of ICON’s $9 million
invest
.
In cooperation with the non-profit organization New Story, ICON established a Latin American3D printingThe housing community then received a $35 million round of financing led by Moderne Ventures to advance housing construction capabilities and develop new housing types and designs.
In the past year, ICON has developed rapidly, and the United States
aviation
aerospace
US military and aerospace customers such as NASA have also begun to adopt their technology. NASA recently commissioned ICON to develop an extraterrestrial building system.

Ballard said: “We treat this as the Apollo project, and we expect faster progress in the next few years, bringing housing and architecture into the modern world, consistent with the highest hopes and values ​​of mankind.”
“We will accelerate the growth of an elite and diverse team composed of scientists, engineers, architects, operators, and leaders. This team now has more than 100 people and is still growing.”


Next generation building3D printingmachine

So far, ICON has built more than 20 houses in the United States and many abroad, thanks to Vulcan 3D printingmachine. Compared with traditional construction methods,3D printingThe machine effectively achieved faster and more flexible housing construction, and they released an upgraded “next generation system” earlier this year.

ICON’s new machine has a larger build volume and a printing speed of 5-10 inches per second, which is twice the speed and can print structures with an area of ​​3,000 square feet. As a result, the company printed four multi-storey buildings in East Austin in the past six months, which have since been listed on the U.S. housing market.

In the aerospace field, ICON has also made progress, producing “the world’s first” in March 2021.3D printingThe lunar launch pad then worked with NASA to create a simulated Martian environment. Astronauts will be hosted for a three-year field test, which will evaluate the efficacy of NASA’s nutritional system and the long-term impact of living on Mars.

Recently, ICON has also expanded to new military fields,3D printingTraining barracks, which will accommodate up to 72 US troops.

ICON’s competitors

Although ICON has established itself in emerging architecture3D printingLeading position in the field, but its housing construction technology is now beginning to face more and more competition.For example, in California, Mighty Buildings has developed its own new construction method, and it now plans to use this method in Coachella Valley3D printing15 houses.

At the same time, in Germany, PERI Group used a mature BOD2 system of COBOD to establish a three-tiered3D printingCommercial apartment building. Unlike the houses being built by Mighty Buildings and ICON, the houses of the PERI Group are built for the rental market and are said to be divided into five separate apartments.

Just two months ago, the American non-profit Habitat for Humanity also deployed COBOD’s BOD2 machine to3D printingAn affordable family home. The house is located in Tempe, Arizona, and includes three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It will be occupied by a poor family selected by the charity.

(Editor in charge: admin)