A construction technology company that uses robotics and AI to create mobile micro-factories for the delivery of affordable homes has secured £5.1m investment to fund growth.
Automated Architecture (AUAR), has pioneered a groundbreaking platform for building modular homes that is itself modular and decentralised.
Using automation and robotics, it is said to offer a scaleable solution for rapidly expanding delivery, and is claimed to cut construction costs by 30-40%.
The company was founded in 2019 by chief executive Mollie Claypool, and Gilles Retsin, chief technology officer and chief architect.
The company has raised the £5.1m venture capital investment to fund the next phase of its growth. This includes scaling its team, expanding its partner eco-system, and preparing to launch operations across what it regards as key European markets, including the Benelux countries, Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH), and the Nordics.
The funding round was led by European early-stage venture fund Planet A, with participation from Shadow Ventures, Common Magic and Concrete VC. Angel investors in this round included Margarita Skarkou, Carmel Rafaeli, Dorothy Chou, Sandro Gianella, and Luke Appleby. Previous investors Miles Ahead, ABB and Nicolas Bearelle also participated.
Claypool said: “AUAR is building a global, automated construction eco-system for sustainable, affordable, and beautiful homes at scale, designed to plug into the way builders already work. By enabling the industry to build together, powered by robotics and artificial intelligence, we’re not just offering a new tool – we’re unlocking new possibilities for how homebuilders can grow, innovate, and deliver at scale.”
Robot factories
AUAR has set out to challenge industry pressures such as soaring costs, labour shortages, and fragmented and inefficient supply chains, offering a platform it claims can ramp-up the delivery of much-needed housing the word over.
According to the World Green Building Council (WGBC), there is a global shortage of 2bn homes, but AUAR argues that housebuilders are unable to profitably increase their capacity to meet this demand using current approaches. That’s where the company’s micro-factories come in.
The robotic micro-factories developed by AUAR are said to be a breakthrough technology for an industry struggling with a lack of skilled labour and low productivity. They are compact, mobile pop-up factories combining robotics with proprietary software to automate the design and construction process.
It’s a way of making timber construction accessible at scale, AUAR says. According to the company, timber construction presents a “significant opportunity” to address the crisis in housing need by combining speed and affordability with sustainability.
However, its potential remains “largely untapped” due to “outdated and wasteful” manufacturing approaches, the company adds.
The micro-factories are said to change that. Designed for mid-sized homebuilders, AUAR claims its solution makes it easy to scale cost-effective timber housing without significant upfront investment or design constraints.
Robots to rent
Builders rent compact robotic micro-factories that locally produce the full timber structure of a home in just 12 hours and reduce on-site labour by up to 75%. AUAR’s MasterBuilder software connects AI-enhanced design directly to robotic production, which is said to automate everything from planning to fabrication.
Each micro-factory can produce modular timber-frame panels for walls, floors, and roofs, which can be quickly assembled on-site to create a variety of home designs.
Retsin said: “Our product is changing the game in construction. With the use of affordable, flexible robotics that can easily adapt to different designs, builders don’t need special facilities or massive training to get the best out of our technology.
“By bringing manufacturing directly to the site or close by, we’re cutting out delays and costs. This approach isn’t just more efficient, it also opens the door for the industry to build faster and at a larger scale. At AUAR we’re not just making construction more automated; we’re making it more accessible to everyone.”
In the past year, AUAR has built multiple projects in Belgium, worked on over 300 homes, and initiated the build of “ConstrucThor”, a cutting-edge research facility that reimagines the future of sustainable construction.
The company also received an Innovate UK SMART grant to scale the AUAR platform for manufacturing mid-rise timber housing, demonstrating both market demand and the strength of its solution. The company says its system for mid-rise timber housing will be commercially available in early 2026.
By 2030 AUAR aims to have built over 100,000 carbon-negative homes being produced by their customers in more than 10 geographies.
Sam Baker, Investor at Planet A, said: “Automation is the single biggest commercial opportunity in construction today, but its adoption has been held back by rigid design systems, limited industry know-how, and broken business models.
“What stands out with AUAR is their ability to embed automation directly into the sector, delivering scalable value in a way that’s both profitable and sustainable. Their platform answers the urgent need for solutions to real-world constraints around margins, speed, and labour, whilst rapidly scaling the supply of low-carbon housing.
“A rare combination of world-class technology and industry-beating unit economics positions this team to define the next era of construction.”
Brad Crawford, chief executive at Rival Holdings, said: “We have partnered with AUAR both as an investor and as their first customer outside of Europe. The construction industry is under immense pressure, from labour shortages to the growing housing crisis and affordability concerns.
“These challenges demand bold, innovative solutions, and the AUAR team works hard to make building easier, faster, and higher quality. We are actively integrating their system into our operations with the goal of efficiency and strategic impact. By reducing costs and time on-site, we hope to improve overall build quality.”
Nick Durham, general partner at Shadow Ventures, said: “We’ve dreamed for decades about how to bring a prefabrication model that would help increase the supply of housing through lower costs of construction.
“This model must lower construction costs, increase speed, have the design customisability that developers seek, and plug into the existing builder/developer process because not everyone can finance a factory. By bringing its micro-factories directly to the job site, AUAR solves the most challenging issue in the prefabrication model. It’s a breakthrough that the world needs.”
Main image: An AUAR micro-factory robot at work
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