Latest news with #Unless
Associated Press
29-04-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Villa Raises $40M to Fast-Track Construction of Attainable Housing
Villa Has Created a Scalable, Affordable Alternative to Traditional On-Site Construction and is Modernizing the Way That New Housing is Built With Offsite Construction SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA / ACCESS Newswire / April 29, 2025 / Villa, a leading offsite homebuilding platform, today announced that it has raised $20 million of new funding to accelerate its mission of making homebuilding easier, faster, and more cost-efficient. The round was led by Unless with participation from existing investors Atomic and Tectonic Ventures, and other undisclosed strategic investors. This funding will enable Villa to scale its operations and advance its vision of using offsite homebuilding to make housing more attainable for many Property With Two Villa Homes on Lot In addition to its platform-level fundraise, Villa has established a 'PropCo' development joint venture with Unless with an initial commitment of $20M of equity capital. This joint venture is actively funding development of entry-level homes using Villa's offsite construction platform across multiple projects located in prime locations. The joint venture has already closed on its initial acquisitions of infill development land sites in both California and Colorado, which are now breaking ground. Villa will begin delivering homes available for sale to homebuyers later this year. Unless has a feature to increase its commitment by an additional $30M+ over time as Villa's development program scales, which, when fully deployed, is expected to fund the development of more than 350 homes. Villa's capital-light business model functions as a demand aggregation and fulfillment platform, partnering with numerous offsite homebuilding factories. Villa combines these supply chain partnerships - which include some of the largest factories in the U.S. - with technology purpose-built to deliver offsite construction at scale with a modern customer experience. Its tech-forward approach leverages AI, machine learning, and software tools to boost construction efficiency. Villa's diverse supply chain allows it to efficiently build a wide range of housing products, including accessory dwelling units (ADUs), single-family homes, duplexes/triplexes, townhomes, and other typologies. 'We believe the best solution to America's housing affordability and availability crisis is to increase the supply of smaller, entry-level homes by using modern offsite construction, technology, and operational discipline to rethink how homes are built and bought,' says Villa CEO Sean Roberts. 'While building homes in factories is something America has done for decades, it has been an underutilized tool for adding new housing in the context of the current affordability crisis. Offsite construction delivers faster timelines and drives greater cost efficiency than most other methods. With Villa pushing the frontiers of how offsite construction can be deployed, offsite is poised to become a much bigger portion of the supply landscape in the coming decade.' This funding comes on the heels of strong momentum for Villa, marked by several key milestones: 'Villa has proven that its innovative, capital-light approach can scale rapidly while maintaining cost-efficient, high-quality delivery of homes in highly desirable neighborhoods,' says Aaron Marsh, partner/CFO at Unless. 'In a housing market where affordability is increasingly out of reach, Villa is leading the charge on building a scalable, attainable solution that brings offsite construction into a new era of adoption. This funding will allow the Villa team to build on their success and radically expand the commercialization of factory-built housing into new applications - something we see as a massive opportunity over the next decade given the many structural tailwinds behind the Villa thesis.' About Villa: Villa is a next-generation homebuilding platform that applies modern offsite construction methods and technology to efficiently build much-needed housing. Villa's mission is to be the easiest, fastest, and most cost-efficient way to build high-quality homes. By partnering with a wide network of offsite housing manufacturers that build home products to Villa's designs and specifications, Villa acts as a technology-powered demand aggregation and fulfillment platform. From discovery and feasibility to permitting, installation, project management, and post-completion service, Villa offers a seamless, end-to-end customer experience. Villa also operates as a merchant homebuilder and principal developer with capital partners. For more about Villa, please visit About Unless: Unless is an investment firm that delivers unique insights and partnership for industrial entrepreneurs and limited partners. Purpose-built to catalyze the new industrial revolution, Unless invites our partners to reflect on what's at stake and envision the possibilities. For more about Unless, please visit For Media Inquiries, Please Contact: Mandy Menaker [email protected] Contact InformationMandy Menaker Founder, Mandy Menaker CommunicationsJessica Brown Director of Marketing 9702149684 SOURCE: Villa Homes press release
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Under Armour, Unless partner on plant-based sportswear collection
This story was originally published on Retail Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Retail Dive newsletter. Under Armour will release Under Armour X Unless, a collection of regenerative sportswear, during Milan Design Week from April 8 to April 10, the activewear brand announced Monday. The collection is the first collaboration between Under Armour and Unless, a zero-plastic regenerative fashion brand. Priced between $30 to $160, the collection features T-shirts, shorts and hoodies in men's, women's and unisex styles. The apparel uses plant-based materials and is 'designed to decompose rather than pollute,' according to Under Armour Brand President Eric Liedtke The Under Armour X Unless collection is meant to reimagine the future of product creation, 'with an innovative commitment that honors both athletes and the planet," Liedtke said in a statement. Under Armour is debuting its first collection with Unless after acquiring the brand last summer. As part of the deal, Liedtke, a former Adidas exec who founded Unless in 2020, came on to work with Under Armour. With the new collection, Liedtke is bringing the eco-friendly approach of Unless to its new parent company. 'As a brand that has consistently disrupted the industry, we are prepared to do it again,' Liedtke said. 'Our unique and innovative approach represents a significant shift from the traditional production cycle, which often relies heavily on plastics and generates waste.' Before appointing Liedtke to enhance the company's brand strategy, Under Armour made another key hire to reshape its brand design. In 2023, the company hired John Varvatos as its chief design officer where he manages the company's brand design studios in Baltimore, New York and Portland. He brings three decades of experience with his own brand and other fashion companies such as Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren. Under Armour has added new talent to its leadership team as it faces declining sales. The company has been scaling back on promotions as it creates a more premium business. One part of its strategy is improving its relationships with wholesale partners. Last November, CEO Kevin Plank said the company is communicating more with its retail partners and trying to gain more shelf space. 'Without story, you're just selling shirts and shoes,' Plank said on a call with analysts at the time. 'And the world doesn't need another capable apparel and footwear brand. The world needs hope and that's what we think Under Armour can be.' In its most recent earnings, the company reported a 5.7% decline year over year in net revenue. In North America, its largest region, sales fell 7.8% to $844 million. Under Armour said this year it plans to open more wholesale accounts with a focus primarily on boutique retailers.
