Galiano Tiramani looks for big problems to solve, like changing how homes around the world are built on site, for example. Which is exactly the challenge he’s taking on now through his latest venture called Boxabl, a company that factory-builds foldable homes and has already raised over $150 million — including a strategic investment from D.R. Horton, America’s largest homebuilder.
In founding Boxabl, Tiramani wanted to solve a big problem and have a huge impact. He looked around the globe and saw that affordable housing problems are chronic. It’s one of the largest markets in the world, but builders can’t keep up with demand and shortages are constantly driving up prices and rents. “Boxabl emerged as a massive opportunity that deserved 100% of our energy and focus,” says Tiramani, 35, who started the company with his father, Paolo, an industrial designer and engineer.
After building and testing prototypes, Tiramani raised the initial investment for Boxabl’s first factory through a crowdsourcing campaign on StartEngine, setting a record of $4 million in the first 13 days and eventually bringing in a total of $75 million. “Thousands of investors have joined this journey and a lot of them double as customers. Crowdfunding really pays off big time,” he says.
Tiramani is now on a mission to make housing far more affordable, with an entry-level single-story home priced at around $60,000. Already, the company has a wait list of 160,000 buyers and has delivered 156 homes through a contract with the US Department of Defense. Another shipment of 176 units were recently delivered to serve as employee housing for a mining company with operations in Bagdad, Arizona.
Boxabl’s foldable homes solve the single biggest limitation that has plagued the manufactured housing industry until now – the problem of getting pre-built houses from the factory to the homesite. The company’s building system is revolutionizing the construction industry with innovative modular designs and energy-efficient materials, fundamentally changing the way homes are built.
Like car manufacturing plants that pump out a completed car every minute, Galiano envisions a day when Boxabl will do the same for houses. In fact, one of Boxabl’s first customers for its introductory Casita foldable home model was Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla. Musk installed a Boxabl home on the campus of his SpaceX rocket company in Boca Chica, Texas.
Ultimately, what will successfully drive Tiramani’s mission to transform the homebuilding industry will be the type of grit and determination that got him through his previous startups and exits. “I’ve always been an entrepreneur and that includes many failures, but more successes,” he says. “One of the most important traits needed for success is perseverance. If you grind away — day after day — you can build amazing things.”