BlackRock and Baillie Gifford make big bets on Icon 3D-printed housing

Austin-based Icon, one of the largest players in 3D-printed real estate, announced on October 13 that it had completed a $200 million Series D funding round, co-led by Baillie Gifford and a fund under BlackRock. The round brings Icon's cumulative funding to $700 million, with the company valued at $1.4 billion. The financing follows Icon's latest technology, the Titan multi-story robotic 3D construction system, which was officially commercialized in March this year. Icon's previous technology could only build single-story structures. According to Icon, Titan can also shorten the average home construction cycle by six weeks, reduce the number of workers required, and lower overall costs by 40%. Icon co-founder and CEO Jason Ballard said: "We have been looking for a group of investors who can help physical construction companies move from the early startup validation stage to scale." He cited Baillie Gifford's investment experience with companies such as Nvidia, Tesla, and SpaceX, as well as BlackRock's massive real estate portfolio. "This is truly a world-class outcome for us."