Founded in 2017 and based in Austin, Texas, ICON aims to revolutionize the homebuilding process through proprietary materials and 3D-printing. ICON plans to make 3D-printed homebuilding more commonplace, tackling the challenges of prolonged construction timelines. Let’s dive into ICON’s history and milestones to review what might make this company stand out from other 3D-printing and construction companies.

ICON’s History and Milestones

Meeting at Texas A&M, Jason Ballard and Evan Loomis founded TreeHouse in 2008, a home upgrade company focused on sustainability and design. Their exposure to construction led them to ask a simple question, “isn’t there a better way to build houses that is more affordable AND sustainable?”

What Technology?

After studying multiple construction methods, the pair determined that 3D-printing appeared to be the best alternative to traditional methods. They believed the technology would be cheaper, faster, and actually more fit to hold up to extreme weather conditions. However, Ballard and Loomis lacked the technical knowledge to turn their idea into a reality.

How?

Ballard and Loomis reached out to Alexander Le Roux in 2017 – an engineer who was experimenting with the technology. The three co-founded ICON and began seeking out investors to help fund their idea. However, investors viewed the project as science fiction and wanted to see a prototype before they could commit. After maxing out several personal credit cards, the first iteration of a residential 3D-printer was born: Vulcan I. ICON finally debuted at SXSW in 2018 – displaying the first permitted 3D-printed house in the U.S. The home had only taken 24 hours to build and represented the birth of a new industry.[1]

ICON’s Products

ICON uses a few hardware and software products to achieve its mission of making residential homebuilding more affordable, faster, sustainable, and sturdy. Leveraging 3D printers, exclusive building materials, and a software package for design and management, these tools work in tandem to make up the ICON tech stack.

Proprietary Materials

ICON has developed two types of proprietary materials that feed into its 3D printer iterations. The first material developed was Lavacrete, a cement-based mixture that can be printed at high speeds and harden into its final form. In structural tests, ICON’s wall system built with Lavacrete surpassed building code design requirements by more than 350%.

In March 2024, ICON announced a new material: CarbonX. Building on Lavacrete’s strengths, CarbonX claims to be the lowest carbon residential building system that can be scaled up to project size, achieving a 24% reduction in carbon emissions. The release of this new material marked a significant step toward residential homebuilding that is more efficient, scalable, and sustainable.

3D Printers

Vulcan

ICON first debuted Vulcan at SXSW in Austin in 2018. Designed to 3D print single story houses with precision and speed, the 3D printer printed a house in 24 hours.

Just a year later, ICON debuted Vulcan II, the first commercial construction 3D printer with capabilities to build 8.5 feet high and 28 feet wide. Only requiring 4-6 people with basic training to operate, Vulcan II took on the world’s first 3D printed community of 50 homes, located in Latin America. Aiming to provide local families in Tabasco, Mexico living in extreme poverty an affordable housing solution, ICON unveiled the first of the homes in December 2019.

Phoenix

At the same SXSW event in March 2024 at which CarbonX was announced, ICON unveiled its next 3D printer, Phoenix. Equipped with a robotic arm, Phoenix is the first 3D printer that can print multi-story buildings and build the entire building enclosure including foundations and roofs. This iteration of ICON’s 3D printer claimed to cut production costs in half while increasing speed and size.

Mixer

To feed the Vulcan and Phoenix 3D printers with Lavacrete and CarbonX, ICON created the Magma mix master system. The portable system optimizes the materials by mixing in additives and water automatically based on current weather conditions at the construction site.

Software

To complement its 3D printers, proprietary materials, and other hardware solutions, ICON has developed software systems for project management and design.

Build OS

ICON created BuildOS to connect the hardware components of 3D-printed residential homebuilding. From generating floor plans and preparing architecture, BuildOS also controls the robotic hardware on-site to turn the digital plans into physical homes.

Vitruvius.ai

Announced in March 2024, Vitruvius is an AI program that can help ICON’s customers design custom homes and receive the associated floorplans, streamlining the design process. Having been trained on building codes, structural engineering, and best construction practices, Vitruvius aims to exceed human capacity while decreasing associated costs.

ICON Milestones

ICON has achieved numerous milestones within the past few years. Some of the recent major highlights for ICON include:

• Selected by DARPA in December 2023 to take part in a 10-year Lunar Architecture capability study.
• Partnered with Lennar in October 2021 and began construction on the largest community of 3D-printed homes in December 2022, located in Georgetown, Texas.
• Received a $60 million contract from NASA in November 2022 to 3D print structures on the moon, including landing pads, habitats, and roads.
• Reportedly increased revenue by 400% nearly each year from 2017-2021

ICON Funding Rounds

ICON has raised over $451 million over five funding rounds. The following is a breakdown of the larger named funding rounds.

Seed Round

In October 2018, ICON announced closing $9 million in seed funding after debuting the Vulcan I printer and first 3D-printed house at SXSW. The round was led by Oakhouse Partners with participation from MicroVentures, D.R. Horton, Emaar, Vulcan Capital, and others.

Series A / Venture Round

ICON went on to raise an additional $35 million in Series A funding in August 2020, adding Moderne Ventures, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, and others to the growing list of backers. The funding aimed to help ICON scale up operations and support new projects.

Just a few months later, ICON filed a Form D in January 2021 outlining another $15.5 million in funding in a venture round.[2]

Series B/Extension

In August 2021, ICON raised a $207 million Series B round led by Norwest Venture Partners with participation from Citi, 8VC, Fifth Wall, and others. Co-founder and CEO Jason Ballard said during this round “We want to turn up the velocity in a major way and are ready to scale…this round of funding will help us do just that: faster R&D, manufacturing and expansion to the people and places that need this technology.”

About 6 months later in February 2022, ICON raised an extension of its Series B round, adding another $185 million in funding led by Tiger Global. At this point, ICON had already delivered more than 24 3D-printed houses across the U.S. and Mexico working with nonprofits to house those in homelessness and chronic poverty.

Series C?

While ICON hasn’t raised any new funding since it’s 2022 round, the company continues to secure government contracts, facilitate new partnerships, and innovate on 3D-printed homebuilding technology.

Final Thoughts

Truly the definition of a disruptor, ICON has been helping to revolutionize the residential homebuilding process through 3D printing since its founding in 2017. Taking on what was seemingly an impossible project, ICON has continued to stretch the boundaries of what is possible in its goal of making homebuilding more accessible in terms of speed, cost, and sustainability. It could be interesting to see what innovations ICON takes on and what their next project will be.

Want to learn more about other MicroVentures portfolio companies disrupting their industries? Check out the following blogs to learn more:

• MicroVentures Portfolio Company: Cerebras History and Milestones
• MicroVentures Portfolio Company: Ripple Labs’ History and Milestones

Are you looking to invest in startups? Sign up for a MicroVentures account to start investing!

 

[1] https://research.contrary.com/company/icon

[2] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1751463/000175146321000001/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml

*****

The information presented here is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be, nor should it be construed or used as, comprehensive offering documentation for any security, investment, tax or legal advice, a recommendation, or an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, an interest, directly or indirectly, in any company. Investing in both early-stage and later-stage companies carries a high degree of risk. A loss of an investor’s entire investment is possible, and no profit may be realized. Investors should be aware that these types of investments are illiquid and should anticipate holding until an exit occurs.