- Housing technology startup Jupe recently announced $9.5 million in seed funding. These are the details.
Housing technology startup Jupe recently announced $9.5 million in seed funding led by Initialized Capital with participation from Y Combinator. The funding will be used to hire a CTO and a wider team of software and hard tech engineers and to execute its mission to make off-grid mobile living more affordable, faster, and efficient.
Since launching in December 2020, Jupe made and shipped dozens of units to locations across California and Colorado. And Jupe is on a mission to make beautiful and dignified shelter instantly deployable onto any accessible piece of land.
Jupe’s technology essentially allows an entire village of units to be deployed and broken down on remote terrain in a single day. Designed with flexibility and customization in mind, Jupes can redeploy and pop-up anywhere from music festivals to natural disaster areas for relief housing, and provide a fast alternative to any other kind of shelter and infrastructure for living.
Jupes are built on a unique “chassis” foundation — which gives them the flexibility to move quickly and freely and adapt to any terrain. And 15 fully off-grid, flat-packed units can be delivered on a single truck. Each unit arrives complete with a luxury queen mattress, linens and bed, furniture, LED lighting, solar panels, and backup batteries. Jupes assemble in just over an hour and units are ready to rent the day they arrive.
Through a short-stay-as-service (SSAAS) land partner program, landowners can activate their space via a software booking platform and install a village of Jupes. And Jupe will deliver, install, book, maintain and clean the units, while the landowner receives a portion of every night’s rental.
The forthcoming SSAAS software platform will also help landowners manage, market, and book their inventory via other short-term rental platforms like Airbnb, Hipcamp, and booking.com.
CEO Dr. Jeff Wilson, a former environmental science professor, spent a year living in a dumpster as a small space sustainability experiment. Wilson went on to found Kasita, an award-winning modular housing company that deployed accessory dwelling units (ADU) to backyards in California and Texas.
And co-founder and COO Antonio Gonzalez, a former executive at unicorn hospitality startup OYO, also previously led a $100 million sprinter van conversion business while serving as a Presidentially appointed advisory board to the National Park Service. The early and current members of Jupe’s team engineered structures on SpaceX’s starship, designed solar panels and cars for Tesla, designed large cargo drones, founded travel app companies, and helped steer the brand at Airbnb.
KEY QUOTES:
“Modular construction is plagued with challenges around design, materials, and transport efficiency. I designed Jupe through learning what really works and what doesn’t. Beyond creating a solution that scales the $4 billion glamping market, Jupe is a step forward in solving the housing crisis that impacts 1.6 billion people annually. Jupe units are ten times cheaper and faster to deploy than traditional temporary, mobile housing solutions, and ship 15 times more efficiently. On top of that, its unique design provides dignified lodging for everyone – with an internet connection.”
— CEO Dr. Jeff Wilson, former co-founder of award-winning modular maker Kasita
“We’re delighted to partner with Jeff and the team at Jupe. They are building a first-of-its-kind hard tech and software platform for the world. Jupe’s vision of universal autonomous housing will ultimately allow anyone to live anywhere on the planet, comfortably and with an internet connection via satellite. It’s something the world has been waiting for.”
— Initialized Capital founder and managing partner, Garry Tan
