Ex-SpaceX engineer's grass panels score $47.5M to replace wood in homebuilding
What's the deal? Plantd, a US startup founded by former SpaceX engineer Nathan SilvernailDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, has raised $47.5 million to make construction panels from fast-growing grass instead of wood.
The panels are cut to the same dimensions as standard oriented strand board (OSB), letting builders swap them in without changing anything on site.
Silvernail spent seven years developing life support systems for the Crew Dragon spacecraft. He launched Plantd with fellow rocket engineer Huade TanDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to rethink how the boards that build homes are made.
Why now? D.R. HortonDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the largest homebuilder in the US, has signed a multi-year deal to buy 10 million panels — enough for roughly 90,000 homes.
The grass grows up to 9m in a single year, while trees take decades to mature. Plantd also claims the panels are carbon negative, removing more carbon than they emit, because the grass absorbs it as it grows.
What could go wrong? Replacing a structural building material is a tall order. The panels must match the performance of wood across walls, floors, and roofs to win over a conservative, regulation-heavy industry.
Scaling production to meet a 10 million-panel commitment is also a steep climb for a young company.
The signal: As an early-stage company, Plantd's $47.5 million raise is an outsized vote of confidence, underwritten largely by a multi-year supply deal with D.R. HortonDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the largest homebuilder in the US. Locking in the country's biggest builder as a customer at this stage gives the startup a rare demand signal that most materials ventures spend years chasing.
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