3D

3D-printing startup Icon raises $200 million to deploy robotic construction system

One of Austin's most notable startups, Icon Technology Inc., has secured another significant round of funding to propel the 3D-printing construction firm into its next phase of commercial deployment and local hiring.

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Icon announced Tuesday that it has raised $200 million in a funding round led by British investment firm Baillie Gifford. The funding, the company says, will help the startup manufacture, ship and deploy its new Titan robotic construction system and lead to the expansion of Icon's team.

"When we started ICON, we believed intelligent machines could fundamentally change the way the world builds. What the last decade taught us is that belief only matters if you can back it with real structures, real deployments, and real demand ... and we have," CEO and co-founder Jason Ballard, said.

Icon, founded in 2017, is considered a hardware and software unicorn. The company 3D-prints buildings and residential homes with the long-term goal of lowering the cost and time of construction to make homeownership more accessible.

The company's newest multi-story robotic system, Titan, was created to reduce construction time and labor demand. The system, Icon says, reduces the time needed to build an average home by six weeks with more than 10 fewer workers required and costs that are 40% lower than the national average.

Locally, Icon has printed homes in the Mueller neighborhood and at the Canyon Club on Lake Travis and constructed a building at Camp Mabry and barracks at Fort Bliss in El Paso. Icon has also constructed affordable homes at Community First! Village in Austin for people experiencing homelessness.

According to its recent announcement, the company is on pace to quadruple its revenue this year and has built more than 270 homes and structures across five states and countries. Icon also recently invested in a dedicated defense division, led by former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, to boost its construction efforts for military customers and explore its 3D-printing capabilities in space.

The division, Icon Prime, has been awarded $370 million in contracts for its Project Olympus partnership with NASA to develop a construction system to build structures on the moon as part of the U.S.'s permanent moon base.

Icon said its expansion "creates new opportunities for top talent" and the company plans to begin scaling hiring efforts. The company laid off about 100 employees in January 2025, saying it needed to "streamline" its operations.