Geoship

Futuristic "Bioceramic" Homes

Company Information

Website:

https://www.geoship.is/

Sector:

Construction

Location:

Nevada City, CA

Geoship designs and manufactures futuristic “bioceramic” homes.

These homes, shaped like giant glass domes, are made from 100% bioceramic composite materials. Each home is fireproof, hurricane and earthquake resistant, and built to last for up to 500 years.

As Fast Company, a media company focused on cutting-edge technology, wondered, “Are these fireproof, hurricane-proof geodesic domes the post-climate change house of the future?”

Geoship designed these homes to solve a massive problem: conventional housing is unaffordable and unsustainable.

As of February 2022, more than eighty seven million American households — seventy percent of the U.S. population — can’t afford a median priced new home. And according to a recent report from McKinsey & Company, California alone needs three-and-a-half million affordable housing units by 2025 to keep up with demand.

Meanwhile, construction accounts for nearly fifty percent of global CO2 emissions. And construction projects generate up to forty percent of the landfill waste in the U.S. Furthermore, homes destroyed by natural disasters like fires, earthquakes, and hurricanes only add to this waste.

One reason construction generates so much waste is because it's a twenty-four-trillion-dollar global industry.

According to financial data provider Sageworks, seven of the top ten fastest-growing industries in the U.S. are construction-related.

Geoship’s homes will require less maintenance and generate less waste than homes made from traditional materials. Each home is expected to incur only about $5,000 in maintenance costs every 100 years, compared to more than $300,000 for traditional homes. Furthermore, the amount of construction waste generated by each home will be .07 tons, compared to eight tons for traditional homes.

The shape of Geoship’s homes will combine the ideas of two historic inventors — the Geodesic Geometry of Buckminster Fuller, and the Ceramic Crystal Chemistry of Rustum Roy. Once assembled, these homes will be:

• Resilient: Ceramic composites are fireproof up to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit, and provide no food or mold for insects. The dome structure distributes stress and strain evenly, making it one of the most earthquake- and hurricane-proof structures available. There is nothing to rot, rust, or deteriorate with the homes, and any repairs or resurfacing can be done using the same ceramic material.

• Zero-Carbon: The precast ceramic panels used to build each home can potentially capture more CO2 than is released during their production. Raw minerals can be harvested from seawater plants, sewage-treatment plants, and other non-toxic waste-stream sources. Furthermore, old bioceramic panels can be recycled into new panels, or pulverized and used as fertilizer.

• Nature Technology: The chemical composition of Geoship’s domes is similar to bone and shells. Ancient civilizations used similar ceramic materials to build the great pyramids of Giza.

• Health Optimizing: Bioceramic domes mimic the natural light, water, and electromagnetic environment. They also reflect more than eighty percent of radiant heat and emit high far-infrared light. Professional athletes are now using bioceramic powders in clothing because the far-infrared light helps the body heal.

Geoship’s homes will be sold in two sizes: small and large. Buyers will have the option of choosing a “base” model or a “turnkey” model. Base models will include the insulated dome, twenty skylights, ventilation and electrical systems. Turnkey models will include delivery, foundation, installation, interior finishes, and mechanical systems.

The small model will be 360 square feet, and the retail base price will be $33,000. Big domes will be 1,040 square feet and start at $110,000. Geoship estimates the cost of goods sold for the small models to be $9,000, and the cost for large models to be $24,000.

Geoship developed the first full-size prototype of its homes in 2015. In 2016 and 2017, the company developed the material science and proprietary manufacturing equipment.

In 2018, Geoship completed most of the computer aided design of its homes and prototyped several different mold designs. A year later, it received an investment from Zappos to demonstrate a scalable business model for solving the homeless crisis.

That same year, the company submitted a proposal to Clark Country in Las Vegas, which was seeking solutions to its homeless crisis. If approved, Geoship would receive multi-year grant funding to manufacture its homes.

Following its first press mention in August 2019, Geoship received 2,100 sign-ups for interest in its homes, a $320 million potential sales funnel (based on an average price of $153,000 per home). It also received two-and-a-half million dollars in reservations and deposits.

Team Background

Bas Kools - Co-Founder & Creative Director

Bas brings an extensive design background to Geoship.

After earning a Master’s degree in Design from the Royal College of Art, he completed several freelance design projects for companies throughout the Netherlands and Germany.

In 2013, he co-founded LocalSmarts, a company developing innovative ways for communities to live together. He then taught design research for two years at ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, located in the Netherlands.

Morgan Bierschenk - Co-Founder & CEO

Prior to starting Geoship, Morgan was Chief Technology Officer for Ceramic Cement Corporation. This company created solutions for radiation shielding, infrastructure repair, roadway resurfacing, and eco-friendly building materials.

Earlier in his career, he spent more than six years with Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), a company that manufactures semiconductor chips for electronics. While there, he was a programmer analyst, project manager, and an industrial engineer.

Morgan earned a Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems and Industrial Engineering from Washington State University.

Co-Investors

Raising
$4.4 million
Committed
$273.212K (6%)
Current Valuation
$45 million Cap / 0% Discount
Min. Investment
$100
Deal Type
Title III
(For all investors)
Offering Type
SAFE
Finance History
Notable Investors
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