All Thibault Launay and his spouse Simi wished almost 5 years in the past was to construct a dream residence in Portugal, the place they each now dwell.
However what they encountered as an alternative was a damaged system. “Fourteen months of delays, 20% finances overruns, and countless stress managing over 10 subcontractors,” Thibault recalled. They purchased the land in December 2020, obtained the development license in early 2022, and began constructing that 12 months. “That was supposed to complete in February 2024,” he mentioned. However it’s Could 2025, and the house nonetheless isn’t completed.
“We realized,” he continued, “if we’re fighting this, so are thousands and thousands of others.”
So Thibault, himself a serial founder and entrepreneur, and Simi, a advisor and in addition a founder, launched Litehaus, an organization that touts to assist landowners and property builders construct houses in a extra environment friendly and sustainable means. It tackles a urgent want in each the U.S. and the European markets: the power to construct reasonably priced houses.
Litehaus, which launched early final 12 months, calls itself the “Uber of building,” with Thibault saying the corporate simply needs to attach all of the presently fragmented elements of the home-building course of. It matches landowners and property builders with different professionals comparable to building corporations, architects, contractors, and inside designers. The corporate permits customers to trace prices, coordinate schedules with the employed staff, and observe the progress of the constructing in actual time.
“As a go-to-market technique, we determined to focus primarily on modular building, permitting us to construct 30% cheaper, 40% sooner, and 60% extra sustainably,” Thibault mentioned, including that meant 90% much less waste and 50% much less CO2 emissions in contrast with conventional building.
Others within the modular building house embody the US-based Ginosko Modular and Flummerfelt and the India-based Schnelle Prefabs, based on Pitchbook.
Litehaus has no less than one U.S. building firm in its community because it seems to be to additional its enlargement within the nation. Proper now, it’s targeted on turning into “Europe’s fastest-growing building tech startup,” Thibault mentioned.
Plus, the European building trade may use extra innovation. Traders in America pour billions of {dollars} into rising building know-how, and, as ordinary, there may be a lot room for the European tech trade to catch up.
Traders right here and throughout the pond clearly agree. Final week, Litehaus introduced a €1.46 million pre-seed spherical, led by the U.Okay.’s Cornerstone VC, with participation from Explorer Fund, one in all Portugal’s largest non-public fairness funds; Claster Group, a Luxembourgish household workplace; and angel investor Pascal Levy, a enterprise accomplice at Lengthy Journey Ventures right here within the U.S.
“The scarcity of housing throughout Europe has triggered a disaster, driving up the price of residing as residence possession turns into more and more out of attain,” Rodney Appiah, a managing accomplice at Cornerstone VC, mentioned. “Once I first met Thibault and Simi, I used to be struck by their compelling imaginative and prescient: to make constructing a house so simple as shopping for one, catalysing the development trade to carry higher transparency, sustainability, high quality, and belief to the home-building course of.”
Thibault referred to as the fundraising journey “intense.” He mentioned he and Simi had identified their lead traders for years by mutual associates. Thibault, who’s from France, is the founding father of an immersive gaming studio in Portugal, however has additionally invested in quite a few corporations, each as an angel investor and thru his work at corporations 50 Companions and Origins, primarily based in France and New York, respectively. Earlier than that, he labored at a French mining firm and in inexperienced tech.
Simi, in the meantime, was born in Nigeria and grew up in London. She ran a recent artwork gallery, a wellness model for girls of shade, and labored as a advisor and strategist for varied corporations on regulation and Africa.
“I’ve at all times wished to construct companies that change folks’s lives,” Simi advised TechCrunch. “Offering reasonably priced houses at scale isn’t only a market alternative—it’s some of the significant methods we will create deep, lasting impression.”
She is now accountable for advertising, communication, and design at Litehaus; her husband, Thibault, handles fundraising, enterprise improvement, and tech.
“When it got here time to lift, we moved shortly with companions who already knew us and shared our imaginative and prescient from day one,” Thibault mentioned. He mentioned the recent capital shall be used to assist scale the cash and rent extra expertise in engineering, product, advertising, and operations.
It’s fairly humorous that Thibault and Simi constructed an organization, raised over 1,000,000 euros, and had two youngsters, earlier than their residence, a course of they began engaged on over 4 years in the past, was lastly completed.
“We are literally transferring in subsequent month,” Thibault mentioned. “We transfer in subsequent month after a 14-month delay on completion. That is the ache level we try to unravel for thousands and thousands of individuals.”