WoHo (World Home), a Cambridge, Mass.-based technology company that innovates how spaces are conceived and created, raised $4.5m in seed funding.
The round was led by The Engine, the venture firm spun out of MIT that invests in early-stage Tough Tech companies that are solving the world’s most urgent problems, such as addressing the housing affordability and shortage crisis, through the convergence of breakthrough science, engineering, and leadership.
The company intends to use the funds to build out U.S. manufacturing, further partner pilots, broaden the team and scale.
Led by Israel Ruiz, an engineer and former EVP and Treasurer of MIT, and renowned architects Anton Garcia-Abril, a professor of the School of Architecture at MIT, and his co-founder of Ensamble Studio, Debora Mesa, who is the Ventulett Chair in Architectural Design at Georgia Tech, WoHo (World Home) provides systems that construct low-to-high-rise structures to enable the creation of spaces. By integrating design, manufacturing and assembly, the systems allow for quality and collaboration at scale and optimization of efficiency. They are made up of a series of discrete foundational components which can be scaled and configured to span residential and commercial buildings such as multifamily housing, hotels, dormitories, labs and offices. These components are optimized for fabrication, transportation, assembly and operation.
The company plans to build lean, modular factories that balance automation and handwork close to construction hubs, simplifying the logistics, lowering the costs, and reducing the environmental footprint of its buildings. The factories will produce WoHo components with span widths ranging from 16 to 20 ft that can be connected or separated three-dimensionally based on specific project needs. These components assemble into a structural grid, particularly suited for residential and other compatible retail, lab or parking uses.
WoHo is conducting its first pilot at WoHo Lab in Madrid and plans to build one in Boston in early 2021.
FinSMEs
22/10/2020