Saudi Aramco and BOLD Capital Partners Invest $52M in Mighty Buildings

Mighty Buildings has received a mighty investment that should lead to significant expansion for the construction 3D printing company.

Mighty Buildings is one of the many companies exploring the construction 3D printing space. While most of these operations have some variation of on-site computer-controlled concrete extrusion, Mighty Buildings’ approach is very different.

Instead of concrete they use a proprietary material to print building sections. Unlike most other construction 3D printing operations, this is done at a regional factory. The 3D printed home sections are essentially built at the factory, and once finished they are loaded onto trucks for delivery. At the job site they are craned into position, making the installation quite rapid. 

The material used in their process is not concrete, and in fact there is NO concrete involved whatsoever. They instead use a proprietary stone and polymer mix that is said to be 5X stronger than concrete and 30% lighter in weight. That obviously helps when shipping completed units to customers. 

As you might imagine, this approach is only feasible within the region immediately surrounding the Mighty Buildings factories, since shipping costs would grow as distance increases. 

That puts a damper on the growth of the company, as the market is basically locked into regions where factories have been established. 

However, all that could change with the latest announcement from the company. Apparently they’ve raised a whopping US$52M from investors. The investors are Saudi Aramco and BOLD Capital Partners. 

I’m wondering if the Saudi interest is due to Mighty Building’s use of polymer in their process? This could indicate that the Saudis wish to assist a potential large user of petroleum products in the future.

What will be done with all this fresh cash? Mighty Buildings explains: 

“Funding is earmarked to accelerate development and scale production of new homes for the U.S. market, where new home demand continues to increase, as well as to establish manufacturing operations in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two of the largest and fastest growing construction markets in the world. The addition of operations in the Gulf region aligns with Mighty Buildings’ strategy to transform housing construction globally, while addressing sustainability, climate-resilience, and the global housing shortage.”

So it seems that there will be more Mighty Buildings factories established in the Middle East to serve that region. This also aligns with other high profile 3D printing projects that have taken place in region, and adds to Mighty Building’s markets. 

Currently, the company has a factory in California, and a large factory in Monterrey, Mexico, which together serve areas in the USA. The Monterrey factory was established after a prior funding round, so it seems their strategy is to pop up new factories in different regions as investment appears. 

As the company proceeds to build homes with their technology, we may see further rounds of investment if the approach proves profitable. I’m pretty sure that Mighty Building’s vision is to have factories placed in every region, even yours. 

Via Mighty Buildings