This Startup Makes Miniature Homes You Can Deliver on a Truck

Austin-based startup Uplift launched its emergency housing microunits four months ago, raising a $7 million seed funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Uplift co-founder Charlie Nitschelm tells Realtor.com® the idea is to offer small mobile housing units that can be quickly deployed. Think natural disasters, job sites, and short-term housing, for instance.

The company just sold its first unit to a paying customer this month, says Nitschelm, who is a former engineer at SpaceX. It features plug-in power and water, self-leveling “feet,” and even built-in truck straps. Two or three fit on a flatbed truck.

Realtor.com caught up with the company at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development‘s Innovative Housing Showcase on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Watch the interview in the video above.

Tristan Navera is a senior reporter on housing policy, covering trends and solutions in the housing market from Washington, DC. He was previously a senior reporter at Bloomberg Law, and before that covered real estate for the Washington Business Journal. Earlier in his career, he spent a decade reporting on business and real estate in Dayton and Columbus, OH. A Cincinnati native, he holds a journalism degree from Ohio University.