Startups to Watch

By: Zena Ryder for Offsite Builder
Published on May 31, 2025

These promising young companies are bringing new ways of thinking to the offsite industry.

  • Their range of innovations reflect a healthy industry that’s actively testing new ideas.
  • Materials represented include CLT, steel, concrete and wood.
  • The products they make include modules, panels and even bath pods.

What new ideas are today’s entrepreneurs developing in the offsite construction industry? To find out where they’re seeing opportunities, we talked with representatives of four new prefab firms, each of which is using a different material: CLT, concrete, steel framing and wood framing. Their products include panels and volumetric modules.

Despite their different approaches, there’s a common thread with these companies: each is optimistic about the future of prefabrication. Here’s what they had to say:

Modular CLT

Manta North is a European modular manufacturer that’s relatively new to the North American market, expanding here in 2023. Founded in 2018 in Stockholm, Sweden, presently, their primary assembly centers are in Salt Lake City, Utah and Riga, Latvia.

Modules are made with cross-laminated timber (CLT) and the base price of a small, ADU-size finished house (269 to 516 sq. ft.) starts at $149,000 USD. The base price includes a finished interior and exterior, fully equipped with a functional bathroom, kitchen, designer lighting and an efficient HVAC system.

Once delivered to the client’s location, each unit is designed for swift connection to utilities. Manta North takes care of delivery, but local contractors manage additional services such as permitting and installation.

Furniture is also an option. “Our company’s core focus is design, and we’ve partnered with Danish furniture brand, Muuto, which means that US clients can order homes fully furnished with carefully curated pieces,” says Linda Klētniece,Managing Partner at Manta North. “Each furniture set is designed to complement our architectural aesthetic, removing the need for an interior designer. The furniture is delivered at no extra cost.” Along with sofas, chairs and tables, some of the furniture bundles also include rugs, lamps, vases and drinking glasses — all with a distinct Scandinavian vibe.

Last year, Manta North delivered their first North American houses to Big Sky, Montana. They plan to deliver homes across the country. Klētniece says, “Our production model allows for flexibility in manufacturing locations, ensuring efficient delivery and scalability. We’re open to collaborating with prefab housebuilders throughout the US.”

Concrete Panels and Pods

Founded in 2021, Onx Homes is headquartered in Georgetown, Texas but also has US offices in Pompano Beach and Homestead, Florida. A new factory is planned for 2026 in Orlando, Florida. The company has additional locations in Dubai, UAE and Bengaluru, India.

As of spring 2025, the Pompano Beach factory can produce 1,500 homes per year and the Georgetown factory 400.

The company makes a variety of components, including foundations, walls, bathroom pods, slabs and staircases, which Ravi Bhat, Chief Operating Officer, describes as “monolithic 2D and 3D steel reinforced concrete structures.” These components are assembled on-site using the company’s proprietary connectors.

Their steel-reinforced concrete walls are sandwiched with “high-performance, lightweight plant fiber-based insulation,” Bhat says. Onx’s website claims that the walls can withstand hurricane-force winds of 175 mph.

Onx sells their homes directly to consumers. And they’re busy. So far, they have built 700 homes in Florida (in Orlando, Fort Myers and South Florida) and 25 in Georgetown, Texas. Another 2,500 are under development in South and Central Florida, and 1,500 are being built in San Marcos, Austin, and San Antonio, Texas. These communities include both single-family homes and townhouses in Florida (each with three to five bedrooms).

In addition to prefabricating wall panels, Onx Homes also manufactures bathroom pods for its homes. The pods “combine high-performance MEP systems with beautifully designed fixtures,” says Bhat.

In February 2025, Onx announced a joint venture with LoanDepot to offer mortgages to its homebuyers. In a press release, Bhat says the goal of this partnership is “to offer homebuyers value and convenience with speed and efficiency… By leveraging LoanDepot’s expertise in mortgage lending, we are creating an exceptional home loan process for our customers.” 

An Onx Homes wall connector. Steel connectors are built into their components, and the joints are sealed with a layer of concrete to give it a smooth finish.
One of Onx Homes’ new homes in Florida.

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