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Cover, a Modular Home Builder That's Modeled In Ways After Tesla, Has Raised $60 Million Series B (techcrunch.com)46
Cover, a seven-year-old, LA-based company that manufactures fully complete wall, floor and roof panels in its factory, then transports them on a standard truck and assembles them on site, announced that it has raised $60 million in Series B funding led by Gigafund. As TechCrunch notes, this investment firm "was founded by two former Founders Fund investors who have bet heavily on SpaceX." The company's founder and CEO, Alexis Xavier Rivas, says he takes pride in being able to attract engineers from SpaceX and Tesla and likened Cover's processes to that of the automaker. From the report:The materials it is using are lightweight steel for the building frame and aluminum for the ceilings. The panels are made of a rubber composite because, as founder and CEO Alexis Xavier Rivas explains, "drywall is not designed for manufacturing or transport -- it's too brittle." Clearly, a lot of thought has been invested in how these buildings are designed. For example, the company installs all plumbing and electrical wiring in the ceiling, so that if an owner wants to run a new wire or pipe, she or he need only pop off the ceiling to do it. It sounds strange, but it's a lot less strange than sawing a series of holes in a wall, then patching them up and repainting them to achieve the same end. (It also requires less help from the kind of craftspeople like plumbers and electricians that is in short supply right now.)
Other materials used include real wood and wood composites for the floors and exterior, and solid surface countertops and bathroom floors that are nonporous, meaning they're more hygienic, as these things go, which matters increasingly to homeowners as the world emerges from a pandemic. How the materials come together is naturally even more crucial, given that with Cover, much of the focus -- and the promise -- is on both quick assembly and customization. [...] Somewhat amazingly, it says that after the foundation is complete, it can have the building built and installed within 30 days, down from the 120-window that it used to promise customers. It also offers a 100% money-back guarantee if it can't obtain the necessary permits, along with a lifetime structural warranty and a one-year warranty for everything else.
Other materials used include real wood and wood composites for the floors and exterior, and solid surface countertops and bathroom floors that are nonporous, meaning they're more hygienic, as these things go, which matters increasingly to homeowners as the world emerges from a pandemic. How the materials come together is naturally even more crucial, given that with Cover, much of the focus -- and the promise -- is on both quick assembly and customization. [...] Somewhat amazingly, it says that after the foundation is complete, it can have the building built and installed within 30 days, down from the 120-window that it used to promise customers. It also offers a 100% money-back guarantee if it can't obtain the necessary permits, along with a lifetime structural warranty and a one-year warranty for everything else.
