Investment supports mission to quickly build sustainable and affordable homes

March 21, 2024, FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Rival Holdings today announced investment in Automated Architecture (AUAR), a U.K.-based tech company building a distributed micro-factory network for sustainable timber housing.

AUAR partners with home builders and contractors in Europe and North America, licensing its technology to build low-energy homes at the price of normal homes, at scale. The company offers a different vision for the built environment, empowering local ecosystems of communities, contractors, architects and developers to build better homes.

AUAR was founded in 2019 by Mollie Claypool, CEO, and Gilles Retsin, CTO & Chief Architect, after working together for over a decade researching how robotics, generative design and AI could radically transform housing.

“Rival is thrilled to partner with AUAR,” said Rival Holdings CEO Brad Crawford. “We are both an investor and a customer, and we look forward to the innovation and disruption that will be created in the market through their technology and vision.”

Co-Founder & CEO of AUAR Mollie Claypool said, “There is a huge and urgent need for affordable low-energy homes, but currently these are expensive to build and difficult to deliver at scale. Building high-quality, sustainable timber homes is hard to scale, but AUAR is here to change that. Robots and AI allow us to deliver high-quality housing at significantly lower costs, increasing margins and productivity while lowering the cost for the end users. By using our solution, construction companies can hit their sustainability targets at a cost they are comfortable with.”

Rival, which launched operations in 2023, has assembled an experienced team with deep industry knowledge and a desire to make a strong, positive impact on the built world.