Staying ahead of the technology curve means strengthening your competitive advantage. That is why we give you data-driven innovation insights into the smart city industry. This time, you get to discover 5 hand-picked startups creating micro homes.
Global Startup Heat Map highlights 5 Top Startups creating Micro Homes out of 470
The insights of this data-driven analysis are derived from the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering 2.093.000+ startups & scaleups globally. The platform gives you an exhaustive overview of emerging technologies & relevant startups within a specific field in just a few clicks.
The Global Startup Heat Map below reveals the distribution of the 470 exemplary startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research. Further, it highlights 5 micro homes startups that we hand-picked based on criteria such as founding year, location, funding raised, and more. You get to explore the solutions of these 5 startups & scaleups in this report. For insights on the other 465 micro home solutions, get in touch.
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Shippy House repurposes Maritime Containers into Housing
Designed to improve housing sustainability, micro homes utilize minimal energy and materials in construction. Therefore, startups recycle and repurpose structures such as unused maritime containers for micro-home construction. These serve as a good foundation for construction and also increase the durability of the homes as they typically have strong metal cores. This provides a sustainable alternative to building new structures with wood, metal, and plastic, all contributing to increasing carbon emissions.
Spanish startup Shippy House repurposes maritime containers into prefabricated (prefab) micro-homes. The startup handles the design, construction, and delivery of the micro-home and uses modular architecture and passive design to ensure the sustainability and longevity of the houses. Additionally, Shippy House allows homeowners the option to power homes through off-the-grid electricity via renewables.
Brette Haus designs Foldable Micro-Homes
Due to a lack of space in urban areas, it is crucial that micro-homes are easy to transport and assemble so that homeowners can shift locations as required. To facilitate the ease of assembly and micro-home mobility, startups develop foldable micro-homes, which allow for rapid assembly and disassembly of the houses. The foldable design also solves the challenges of space allocation and transportation of micro-homes.
Brette Haus is a Latvian startup that develops foldable micro-homes. The startup uses its patented hinge technology that allows the house to be unfolded and assembled for 100 cycles. Along with the hinge technology, Brette Haus uses cross-laminated timber (CLT) to increase the load-bearing capabilities of the house. This enables house reassembly across multiple cycles, creating mobile homes that are sustainable and durable.
Tiny Toronto advances Shared Living
Finding and allocating space is a challenge in setting up micro-homes because urban area planning allows for a predefined number of houses. However, urban areas typically have unutilized land space. This is why startups design micro-homes that fit into these spaces to optimize land usage. This includes designing homes that are dimensionally suitable for urban usage, without causing strife for existing homeowners.
Canadian startup Tiny Toronto designs detached accessory dwelling units (DADU) that fit into surplus space in urban areas. Giving homeowners the option to lease part of their land to allow for a DADU installation, the startup encourages transactions between people who need land and people who have land to spare. Tiny Toronto’s designs are both sustainable and enable multiple occupancies. In addition to housing units, the startup designs extendable micro-sheds and micro-gardens.
The Tiny Housing Co builds Customizable Micro-Homes
Because micro-homes are typically prefabricated, their residents often do not get solutions that address their specific needs. For example, some families require multiple bedroom allotments for their micro-home, while other occupants want the option of utilizing off-the-grid electricity. Moreover, even non-prefabricated solutions often provide minimal involvement of the user with the design. Startups and scaleups develop customized home solutions that ensure users’ involvement in the design of their micro-homes.
British startup The Tiny Housing Co allows future residents to create customizable micro-home designs. Users send in their designs of micro-homes based on their specific needs, and the startup coordinates with the prospective home-owners, to help edit and adapt a feasible model of the design for a micro-home. Furthermore, each construction includes 1000 Watt solar panels attachments, which reduces energy expenditure. In addition to custom design solutions, The Tiny Housing Co also develops a range of prefab tiny homes, which include both transportable and non-mobile models.
haus.me develops Solar-Powered Micro-Homes
Micro-homes usually rely on an external power source for their electricity needs. For example, micro homes are often integrated with solar panels to provide off-the-grid electricity to the house, which makes their construction more sustainable. To help with this, startups develop renewable energy solutions for the low power requirements of a micro-home. Renewables provide an opportunity for micro-home owners to decrease electricity costs and even sell excess power to the grid.
US-based startup haus.me integrates solar panels into their micro-home designs. The startup’s product, mOne, is a transportable, prefab micro-home that is solely powered by solar energy. The home allows for advanced high-efficiency particulate absorbing (HEPA) air quality control and provides antiviral and antibacterial protection. The startup also offers mTwo, a larger solar-powered setup.
Discover more Smart City Startups
Smart City startups such as the examples highlighted in this report focus on prefabricated homes, smart home control, and homelessness. While all of these technologies play a major role in advancing smart cities, they only represent the tip of the iceberg. To explore more smart city technologies, simply get in touch to let us look into your areas of interest. For a more general overview, you can download our free Industry Innovation Reports to save your time and improve strategic decision-making.
