I used to view ICON, the Austin-based additive construction (AC) firm, as one of a handful of companies that could realistically consider itself the leader of the 3D printed construction market. Then almost all of those other companies failed, and eventually it was difficult to view ICON as anything but the leader of what is still a very niche, albeit tenacious, market segment.
Now, I’m wondering if anyone else can truly compete with ICON, and I must note that I’m intentionally phrasing the thought that way to be provocative. If you do think you can compete with ICON, by all means, prove it! We can only benefit from having more viable options for construction.
But, provocation aside, it still seems like a reasonable thing to consider, as ICON just announced a $200 million Series D. This brings its total all-time funding haul to around $700 million; however, it’s not just the size of the investments that sets apart the company’s VC backing from the pack.
It’s the names behind ICON that represent the most impressive aspect of its VC history. Tiger Global Management has been a leader of previous funding rounds, for instance, and this time Baillie Gifford, the legendary UK investor, and BlackRock, reputed controller of planet Earth, co-led the round. Meanwhile, beyond VC, ICON also has support from strategic partners such as Wells Fargo, which earlier this year announced a unique collaboration with the company to offer mortgages to homebuyers that include a .5 percent credit.
Not only that, but as the company highlighted in its press release about the Series D, over the years, ICON has received $370 million in government contracts alone. It also noted that it’s on pace for 4x revenue growth this year, and reported that it is approaching 300 completed buildings over the course of its existence. This is as good a place as any to point out that on February 24, 2027, at 2:20 PM Eastern, attendees of Additive Manufacturing Strategies (AMS) can hear Jonathan Ladouceur, VP of Technology & Products at ICON, speak on an Additive Construction panel hosted by Stephan Mansour.
Wolf Ranch neighborhood.
Do I really think the company’s lead is insurmountable? No idea, but in any case, I don’t think its success is going to stop anyone from trying to catch up. This is another thing that’s so positive about a company like ICON existing in this space: it presents both the validation of the idea that a 3D printed construction company can make its mark as much as high-flying startups in any other market, as well as a challenge to everyone else who sees the business potential of combining 3D printing and construction.
I also genuinely believe that a proven ability to compete is vital to any company’s success, so ICON, too, needs real competition in order to become the best version of itself. A legitimate competitor will no doubt emerge; I’m just not sure exactly who it is at the moment, nor is it clear where that company will come from. Along these lines, the closest comparison for ICON, curiously enough, could be SpaceX.
While I give SpaceX its fair share of razzing, there’s no question the company is in a league of its own in the satellite business. (Most of my criticism has to do with its corporate management and the related issue of everything it does that involves taking its eye off the ball of launch and communications infrastructure.) And everything SpaceX has done to create an unparalleled lane in commercial space has also spurred no end of companies working toward the long-term goal of capturing some of SpaceX’s market share.
ICON Titan at R&D Printland facility in Austin.
In a post I wrote about the EU and its approach to the space race, I suggested that EU stakeholders may be trying to build a horizontal network of commercial space companies that, collectively, could create a de facto SpaceX competitor. Perhaps this is how the AC market might develop: an ICON that becomes a vertically integrated world-unto-itself, and a remainder of the market that, in combination, competes with ICON. It’s almost certainly far too early to make this sort of prediction, although in this context it is interesting to point out the number of projects ICON has worked on that involve space exploration.
Images courtesy of ICON