Uber Co-Founder Travis Kalanick Backs Hotel Company Using 3D Printing Tech

Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick. Photo: Evan Agostini/The Associated Press

A hotel company that uses 3D printing technology to manufacture its flat-pack buildings has raised $20 million (£16 million) from investors including Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick .

Habitas, which started life as an events and membership business, wants to create a “Club Med for Millennials”, according to a report in the Financial Times.

Justin Mateen, co-founder of dating app Tinder, and Indian ad-tech billionaire Div Turakhia, are also backing the venture.

Habitas manufactures its hotel rooms in Mexico before shipping them off around the world, where they are fitted into the local landscape.

“We assemble them like Lego,” Oliver Ripley, the company’s co-founder told the FT.

The company will have around eight locations by the end of 2020 with the aim of building 10–12 a year afterward.