Design, Bitches
Looking to Build a Granny Flat in Your Backyard? Meet the Firms and Designs Pre-Approved in LA
Adding a backyard home in Los Angeles is now nearly as easy as buying a barbecue.
Homeowners who for years have wanted to build a granny flat in their backyard, but dreaded the red tape, can now choose from 20 pre-designed homes that the city has already approved for use.
The shift, made official last week, will speed up a weeks-long process and bring more badly needed units to an overpriced market. It also has the potential to elevate the 14 startups and firms building the next generation of homes.
The designs for the stand-alone residences range from a 200-square-foot studio to a 1,200-square foot, two-story, two-bedroom unit. And many of the homes are filled with design flourishes, reflecting the diverse architecture of the city, from a house in the silhouette of a flower to one with a spiral outdoor staircase leading to the roof.
It's no surprise. The program was spearheaded by Christopher Hawthorne, a former architecture critic at the Los Angeles Times and now the city's chief design officer.
The firms are primarily local and startup architecture and design firms, while others are well-known with a history of building granny flats, also know as accessory dwelling units, or ADUs.
The standard plans avoid the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety's typical four-to six-week review process and can allow approvals to be completed in as quickly as one day.
Some aspects of the plans can be modified to fit a homeowner's preferences. Eight other designs are pending approval.
Mayor Eric Garcetti believes by adding more such units, the city can diversify its housing supply and tackle the housing crisis. Recent state legislation made it easier to build the small homes on the lot of single-family residences. Since then, ADUs have made up nearly a quarter of Los Angeles' newly permitted housing units.
Because construction costs are relatively low for the granny flats – the pre-approved homes start at $144,000 and can go beyond $300,000 – the housing is generally more affordable. The median home price in L.A. County in January was $690,000.
Here's a quick look at the designs approved so far:
Abodu
Abodu
Abodu, based in Redwood City in the Bay Area, exclusively designs backyard homes. In 2019, it worked with the city of San Jose on a program similar to the one Los Angeles is undertaking.
In October, it closed a seed funding round of $3.5 million led by Initialized Capital.
It has been approved for a one-story 340-square-foot studio, a one-story one-bedroom at 500 square feet, and a one-story, 610-square-foot two-bedroom.
The pricing for the studio is $189,900, while the one-bedroom costs $199,900 and the two-bedroom is $259,900.
Amunátegui Valdés Architects
Connect Homes
Design, Bitches
Escher GuneWardena Architecture
First Office
Fung + Blatt Architects
Fung + Blatt Architects is a Los Angeles-based firm founded in 1990.
The city has approved its 795-square-foot, one-story, one-bedroom unit with a roof deck. It estimates the construction cost to be $240,000 to $300,000, excluding landscape, site work and the solar array. Homeowners can also expect other additional costs.
Taalman Architecture/ IT House Inc.
LA Más
Jennifer Bonner/MALL
Massachusetts-based Jennifer Bonner/MALL designed a "Lean-to ADU" project, reinterpreting the stucco box and exaggerated false front, both Los Angeles architectural mainstays.
The design has been approved for a 525-square-foot one-story, one-bedroom unit with a 125-square-foot roof deck.
sekou cooke STUDIO
New York-based sekou cooke STUDIO is the sole Black-owned architectural firm on the project.
"The twisted forms of this ADU recalls the spin and scratch of a DJ's records" from the early 90s, the firm said.
Its design, still pending approval, is for a 1,200-square-foot, two bedroom and two bathroom can be adapted to a smaller one-bedroom unit or to include an additional half bath.
SO-IL
New York-based SO-IL was founded in 2008. It has completed projects in Leon, Seoul, Lisbon and Brooklyn.
Its one-story, one-bedroom 693-square-foot unit is pending approval. It is estimated the construction cost will be between $200,000 and $250,000.
WELCOME PROJECTS
Los Angeles-based Welcome Projects has worked on projects ranging from buildings, houses and interiors to handbags, games and toys.
Its ADU is nicknamed The Breadbox "for its curved topped walls and slight resemblance to that vintage counter accessory."
It has been approved for a one-story, one-bedroom 560-square-foot unit.
wHY Architecture
Firms that want to participate in the program can learn more here . Angelenos interested in building a standard ADU plan can learn more the approved projects here.
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🤝 Venture Deals
LA Companies
- Third Way Health raised an oversubscribed $15M Series A led by Health Velocity Capital to scale its AI-enabled hybrid human and automation front-office operations for medical practices. The company says it will use the funding to accelerate customer growth, expand operations, and deepen its AI and automation roadmap, building on its claim of supporting practices serving 5M+ patients annually. - learn more
- Inhouse raised $5M in seed funding to grow its AI legal platform that helps small and midsize businesses generate contracts, get answers to complex legal questions, and bring in attorneys when needed. The round included backing from Run Ventures, Royal Street Ventures, Switch, and LegalZoom cofounder and former CEO Brian Liu, and the company says it will use the new capital to expand its AI agent capabilities and increase automation across contract lifecycle management, compliance, and proactive risk management. - learn more
- Subject raised a $28M growth investment led by Vistara Growth, with participation from new backers NextEquity Partners, Green Street Impact Partners, and Outcomes Collective, plus existing investors including Kleiner Perkins and others. The company says it will use the funding to accelerate development of its AI-powered K–12 curriculum and online learning platform, expand accredited course offerings, and scale adoption with more districts and educators worldwide. - learn more
- Mogul raised $5M in a round led by the Yamaha Music Innovations Fund, with participation from Urban Innovation Fund, Mindset Ventures, Fairway Capital Partners, and renewed support from Amplify LA and Wonder Ventures. The royalty management platform says it will use the funding to expand services for artists and their teams, building on traction like processing over $1.5B in royalties and launching its new Catalog Valuation Center to help creators understand the value of their catalogs. - learn more
- Handl Health raised a $14.2M Series A led by Arthur Ventures, with follow-on investment from Syndra Capital Partners, an additional strategic investor, and increased participation from existing backers Mucker Capital, Riverfront Ventures, Digital Health Venture Partners, and Boutique Venture Partners. The company says it will use the new capital to expand its platform and deliver deeper analytics that help employers and benefits decision-makers design lower-cost health plans with more predictable pricing and better care outcomes. - learn more
- Skorppio launched a self-serve, on-premise high-performance computer rental platform that lets AI teams, VFX studios, researchers, and schools rent enterprise-grade systems without buying hardware or locking into the cloud. The company says its fleet includes everything from performance laptops to DGX-class AI systems and GPU servers, supported through a PNY Pro partnership that makes NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs available, plus curated “KIT” bundles designed for specific workflows. - learn more
LA Venture Funds
- B Capital participated in Gushwork’s $9M seed round, backing the startup’s bet that “AI search” will become a major new channel for B2B lead generation. The round was co-led by Susquehanna International Group and Lightspeed, and Gushwork says it’s helping businesses show up in answers from tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity using automated marketing agents that generate search optimized content and backlinks. - learn more
- UP.Partners participated in BeyondMath’s $18.5M seed round, backing the company as it scales its “generative physics” approach to faster engineering-grade simulation. The raise included a $10M seed extension led by Cambridge Innovation Capital, with additional participation from Insight Partners and InMotion Ventures. - learn more
- MANTIS Venture Capital participated in SolveAI’s $50M funding round, backing the company as it launches a platform that lets employees build enterprise applications using natural language instead of code. The raise included a $45M Series A led by GV plus a previously undisclosed $5M pre-seed led by Accel, with additional participation from Northzone, NeverLift, and angels including Mike LoSapio, Pushmeet Kohli, and Olivier Godement. - learn more
- Fabric VC participated in Kash’s $2M pre-seed round, backing the startup as it embeds prediction markets directly into social media starting with X. Kash says users can turn posts into live, tradable markets through its @kash_bot, letting people express conviction on real-world outcomes inside the feed rather than in separate apps. The round also included investors such as Big Brain Holdings, Spartan Group, Coinbase Ventures, Kosmos Ventures, Halo Capital, MoonRock Capital, and Polaris Fund. - learn more
- M13 led LuminosAI’s latest funding round as the company launched Lighthouse, a new feature it says can automatically test generative and agentic AI systems for concrete legal liability. LuminosAI says the new capital will help it accelerate growth and expand its team to support a growing customer base, with participation from investors including Bloomberg Beta, Hawktail, AME Cloud Ventures, Crosscourt, Octave, Great Oaks, Fundrise, and others. - learn more
LA Exits
- Niagen Bioscience has sold its ChromaDex Reference Standards business to LGC in an all-cash transaction that closed on Feb. 24, 2026, as the company sharpens its focus on its core longevity strategy. Niagen says the divestiture helps it fully exit non-core operations and concentrate resources on NAD+ science, intellectual property, and commercial growth around its Niagen solutions, while LGC adds the standards portfolio to deepen its reference materials offering for pharma and lab customers. - learn more
- Mutiny has been acquired by LA-based investment firm Shamrock Capital, which says the deal will help Mutiny accelerate growth and strengthen its position as a leading gaming-focused creative agency. Founded in 2021 and previously incubated within Trailer Park Group, Mutiny works with publishers and brands on research-driven, player-first creative, social, and community campaigns. Shamrock says Mutiny will continue scaling as a standalone business, with support that could include strategic acquisitions. - learn more
- Vestigo Aerospace has been acquired by Applied Aerospace & Defense, bringing Vestigo’s Spinnaker deorbit drag-sail product line into Applied’s portfolio. Applied says Spinnaker helps satellite and launch-vehicle operators meet tightening orbital debris rules by providing a lightweight, cost-effective way to deorbit objects in low Earth orbit, and Vestigo founder and CEO Dr. David Spencer will join Applied as VP of Deployable Systems. - learn more
LA based Arc, founded in 2021 by a team of SpaceX alumni, announced a $50M Series C this week, led by Eclipse, a16z, Menlo Ventures, Lowercarbon, Necessary Ventures, and Offline Ventures, as it pushes deeper into commercial maritime. The raise follows Arc’s $160M contract with Curtin Maritime to deliver eight hybrid-electric tugboats beginning at the Port of Los Angeles, with the first expected to hit the water this year.
Imsage Source: Arc
That feels notable not just because of the funding, but because it marks a clear evolution in Arc’s business. What started as a premium electric boat company is now making a serious push into the industrial side of maritime transportation, with ambitions spanning tugboats, ferries, and defense vessels.
There is also something fitting about this story happening in Los Angeles. This is a city known for spectacle, but Arc is building in a category where performance actually has to perform. No amount of branding can fake a working tugboat, and that is exactly why this moment feels worth paying attention to.
Now, onto this week’s LA venture deals, fund announcements and acquisitions.
🤝 Venture Deals
LA Companies
- Talino closed a $7.5M Series A led by Chemonics International, with participation from Mt Sinai Capital and Gulf Blvd, as it shifts from a venture studio into what it calls a global fintech foundry. The company said the new funding will help build an API-first cross-border payments infrastructure layer connecting the U.S. with emerging markets, starting with the Philippines, where it is targeting faster, more compliant financial product launches and modernizing legacy rails with stablecoin and real-time payment capabilities. - learn more
- PADO AI raised a $6M seed round led by NovaWave Capital to expand its AI-powered orchestration software for mid-market colocation data centers. The company said the funding will support product delivery and global growth as it helps operators better manage power, compute, cooling, and distributed energy resources to increase GPU utilization and maximize “compute per megawatt” without requiring major new infrastructure buildouts. - learn more
- Meadow Memorials raised a $9M Series A led by Lachy Groom and Haystack to expand its software-enabled funeral planning platform, which lets families arrange services online or by phone. Founded in 2024 by former Stripe executive Sam Gerstenzang and Emma Gilsanz, the company says it is using a real-estate-light model to offer lower-cost funerals as it expands beyond California into states including Texas, Washington, and Arizona. - learn more
LA Venture Funds
- Anthos Capital participated in Bluesky’s $100M Series B, which was led by Bain Capital Crypto and also included Alumni Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Knight Foundation, and True Ventures. The company said the round gave it the resources to scale both the Bluesky app and the broader AT Protocol ecosystem, which it says has grown to more than 43 million users and now supports a fast-expanding network of third-party apps and developers. - learn more
- Navigate Ventures participated in VerbaFlo’s oversubscribed $7M seed round, which was led by Pi Labs and also included Haatch and Old College Capital. VerbaFlo said it plans to use the funding to scale its conversational AI platform for real estate operators, building on traction across more than 200,000 units and expanding further into markets including the U.S., Middle East, and Australia. - learn more
- March Capital participated in Xage Security’s $15M equity financing round, which was led by Piva Capital as the company posted 81% year-over-year revenue growth and expanded its Zero Trust platform for AI and critical infrastructure. Xage said the funding, which closed in December 2025, will support go-to-market expansion and continued product innovation, including new AI security capabilities, as demand grows across sectors such as energy, manufacturing, utilities, transportation, and defense. - learn more
- B Capital led Knox Systems’ $25M Series A, backing the company’s push to scale what it says is the largest AI-managed federal cloud and dramatically shorten the FedRAMP authorization process for software vendors. Knox said the new funding will help accelerate growth after its June 2025 seed round, with the goal of helping customers achieve FedRAMP authorization in as little as 90 days at roughly 90% lower first-year cost, while expanding adoption across both government and commercial environments. - learn more
- WndrCo participated in Tenkara’s $7M round, which was led by True Ventures as the company builds AI-powered operations agents for American manufacturers. Tenkara said it is creating tooling to help factories handle sourcing and operational work more efficiently at a time of rising supply-chain pressure, with backing from a broader investor group that also included Articulate Capital, Night Capital, HF0, SF1, and Transpose Platform. - learn more
- Aurora Capital participated in Niv-AI’s $12M seed round, backing the startup alongside Glilot Capital, Grove Ventures, Arc VC, Encoded VC, and Leap Forward as it emerged from stealth. Niv-AI is building sensors and software to measure millisecond-scale GPU power surges and help data centers use electricity more efficiently, with plans to deploy its system in a handful of U.S. facilities within the next six to eight months. - learn more
- Clocktower Technology Ventures participated in Fuse’s $25M Series A, which TechCrunch reported was led by Footwork, Primary Venture Partners, NextView Ventures, and Commerce Ventures, with Fuse also naming Clocktower Ventures among its backers. The company said it plans to use the funding to expand its AI-native loan origination and account opening platform for credit unions, building on traction with more than 100 customers and a $5M “rescue fund” aimed at helping institutions switch off legacy systems. - learn more
- Kairos Ventures participated in Alomana’s €4M seed round, which was led by CDP Venture Capital and also included Founders Factory, Italian Angels for Growth, Club degli Investitori, and others. Alomana said it will use the funding to strengthen its enterprise AI platform, add more capabilities for autonomous workflow automation, and support larger deployments across Europe as demand grows in sectors like finance, manufacturing, and pharma. - learn more
LA Exits
- Optimal’s Entertainment Media division is being acquired by Capstone Point Holdings, with the business set to operate under its legacy name, Optimad Media, following the deal. The transaction keeps founder Kevin Weisberg in place to lead the company from Los Angeles, while giving Optimad more backing to expand its entertainment media planning, buying, and prints-and-advertising investment capabilities across theatrical, streaming, and broadcast campaigns. - learn more