Austin 3D-printing company Icon lands $207 million to continue rapid growth

When Icon printed its first home in 2018, co-founder Jason Ballard knew 3D printing had the potential to revolutionize the way we manufacture housing, defense and space. 

Less than four years later, the Austin-based construction startup has already use 3D printing technology to build more than two dozen homes and structures, is now working with NASA to develop habitats on the Moon and eventually Mars and has printed barracks for the Texas Military Department. 

"I don't think I thought we'd hit all three in three and a half years, but we knew that they were a real possibility for the technology," Ballard said. "It's really the velocity and speed with which we've gone from that first prototype machine at first demonstration house to being ready to graduate to hundreds of homes with serious builders and serious architects in one of America's greatest cities like Austin."

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The startup is now gearing up for its next chapter of growth. Tuesday, Icon announced it has raised $207 million in funding as it looks to rapidly grow its team and capabilities. 

Investors in the funding round include 8VC, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, BOND, Citi Crosstimbers, Ensemble, Fifth Wall, LENx, Moderne Ventures, and Oakhouse Partners. The latest funding builds on $35 million the company raised in August 2020, along with $9 million in seed funding in 2018. 

Icon was founded in response to the global housing crisis and in 2018 unveiled its first 3D printed structure, a 350-square-foot house in East Austin that was constructed in 47 hours of total printing time, at a cost of about $10,000. 

The company originally considered a number of building material options — from shipping containers to architectural fungus —  before settling on 3D printing for its versatility and range. Ballard said the technology is faster, less expensive and has a wider range of options than traditional construction.

The company uses its own Vulcan printer technology to build projects and has worked with a number of nonprofit partners to build housing. It has also worked with the U.S Department of Defense and NASA.

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Its projects include dozens of houses in the U.S and Mexico, military barracks, a simulated habitat meant to mimic life on Mars. Its hardware is scheduled to go into space within the next few years as part of NASA's Artemis program. 

Icon also recently completed a development of 3D-printed homes in East Austin.

Ballard said the company is "buried in demand" currently, with hundreds of builders reaching out with requests for thousands of homes. A portion of the funding will go towards stand-up manufacturing so the company can significantly scale its Volcan printers to keep up with the demand. 

Currently, the company has four Volcan printers, each capable of printing a house a day. With its new funding, Icon could scale to another dozen printers by the end of the year and continue adding more at that pace next year, Ballard said.   

The company's existing printers are already booked up for the next few years, he said. The new printers will be Icon's third generation of construction technology and its third iteration of printers. They are capable of 3D printing homes and structures up to 3,000 square feet, according to the company.

Ballard said Icon plans to significantly grow its team, adding new employees in a variety of areas including manufacturing, technical, engineering and field operations. Icon currently has about 100 employees, a number that doubled this year. Ballard said he expects the company will continue to double again next year and the year after. 

"We're trying to attract an elite and diverse team of scientists, engineers, architects operators. Humanity stands to benefit tremendously if we can find a better way to build and actually make a dent in the housing crisis," Ballard said.

Ballard attributes the company's success to dozens of engineering and scientific breakthroughs. 

"Innovation is always managed chaos, or you're not innovating," Ballard said. "If you know what's going to happen you're not innovating." 

Ballard said Icon's work with NASA has helped accelerate the company's development process and focus more on autonomy without a human operator. 

"The civilization that figures out how to build a moon base is going to be the same civilization that figures out how we're going to solve homelessness. They go together because they're going to involve fresh, innovative, groundbreaking thinking," Ballard said. 

Icon's $207 million funding round is one of the largest this year for Austin-area companies. Capital raised by companies is important for the Austin economy because it often leads to hiring workers, expanding facilities and accelerating product development. Some other local funding rounds of more than $100 million this year include: 

• In April, Arrive Logistics raised $300 million in equity to grow its freight brokerage business and add 1,000 employees. 
• In May, Workrise, which operates an online platform for the oil, gas, and energy industry and previously was named RigUp, raised $300 million to expand its reach.
• In July, Elevate Brands an e-commerce company that buys companies that sell products on Amazon, raised $250 million to fuel its growth and bring more third-party sellers into its portfolio. 
• Austin-based real estate startup Homeward in May raised $135 million in equity funding and $235 million in debt financing to grow its business meet demand, and expand into new markets.
• In June, Outdoorsy, which makes an online platform that lets people who own RVs, motorhomes, camper vans and travel trailers rent out their vehicles raised $120 million to fuel its grow its platform and reach.