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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Impulse Space
Rockets have become remarkably good at carrying satellites beyond Earth. Once those satellites reach space, however, getting them from one orbit to another can still be slow, expensive or impossible.
Redondo Beach-based Impulse Space wants to change that, and investors are giving it considerably more fuel for the journey.
The company raised a $308M extension to its Series D, bringing the round’s total to $808M. The new financing comes just over three months after Impulse announced the initial $500M raise and pushes its total capital raised above $1.3B.
Existing investors 137 Ventures, BANNER VC, DFJ Growth, Linse Capital, Lux Capital and Valor Equity Partners participated in the extension. Impulse did not disclose a valuation, but convincing existing backers to commit another $308M so soon after an already substantial round is a strong signal of confidence in both the company and the market it is pursuing.
Founded by former SpaceX propulsion executive Tom Mueller, Impulse is building vehicles designed to move satellites and payloads after they have already reached space. If rockets are responsible for getting cargo off the ground, Impulse wants to handle what happens after delivery.
Impulse Space
Its Mira spacecraft is built for precise maneuvering, payload deployment and proximity operations in orbit. Helios, scheduled for its first flight in 2027, is a high-energy kick stage designed to move payloads from low Earth orbit to destinations such as geostationary orbit in less than a day. The company has also introduced an electric propulsion system called Electra and a rideshare service aimed at making higher-energy orbits more accessible.
Together, those products represent something larger than a collection of spacecraft. Impulse is attempting to build a transportation network for an economy that increasingly needs one.
That need is becoming harder to ignore. More satellites are reaching orbit, governments are prioritizing responsive space capabilities and commercial operators want greater flexibility after launch. A satellite that can change position, reach a different orbit or respond quickly to a new mission is significantly more useful than one permanently tied to its original destination.
The U.S. government is already putting Impulse’s thesis to work. Helios was selected for the U.S. Space Force’s National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1 program, making it the first upper-stage prime awarded a position in the program. Impulse also received a $28M contract extension to provide two Mira spacecraft for additional Space Systems Command missions.
The company says its headcount has more than doubled over the past year as it expanded its facilities in Redondo Beach, Mojave, Boulder and Washington, D.C. The new capital will support further hiring, product development and facility growth as Impulse works to serve commercial, civil and defense customers.
It also recently appointed its first chief financial officer, Adam Townsend, who previously helped guide Vizio through an IPO and its eventual sale to Walmart. The hire is another sign that Impulse is preparing for a more complex chapter, one defined not only by engineering milestones but also by a growing capital base, government contracts and large-scale operations.
That is where this announcement becomes more interesting than its considerable price tag.
Impulse has already shown that Mira can operate in space. Now it must prove that it can turn several ambitious vehicles into dependable infrastructure. The difference between a promising spacecraft company and a transportation network is repetition: more missions, more customers and systems that work reliably enough to become part of how the space economy operates.
An $808M round gives Impulse the resources to pursue that vision. It also raises the expectations attached to it.
For Southern California, the financing reinforces the region’s role in the new space economy. Los Angeles helped build the original aerospace industry, and a new generation of companies is now developing the vehicles, factories and infrastructure intended to support life beyond the launchpad.
Impulse Space is tackling what may be the next big bottleneck. Getting to space is only the beginning.
Someone still has to get you where you are going.
More from this week’s LA startup and venture scene below.
🤝 Venture Deals
LA Venture Funds
- Riot Ventures co-led EnduroSat’s $205M funding round alongside Atreides Management, with participation from GV, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, the European Innovation Council and other investors. The Bulgarian space company will use the capital to open a high-volume satellite factory in the U.S., build a major European space and defense hub and scale production of its standardized spacecraft. - learn more
- Upfront Ventures and M13 participated in Ayble Health’s $16M Series A, led by Neon and joined by Unum Ventures, Cleveland Clinic Ventures, DigiTx and Accomplice. The virtual-care company will use the funding to expand its AI-enabled clinic for chronic digestive and autoimmune conditions across national health plans, major employers and benefits platforms, bringing its total capital raised to more than $27M. - learn more
- Blue Heron Ventures participated in Voxela’s Series A, led by Delight Ventures and joined by SOMPO Growth Partners, Happiness Capital, Archetype Ventures and ALL STAR SAAS FUND, bringing the eldercare technology company’s total funding to approximately $13.2M. Voxela will use the capital to expand hiring and develop new AI capabilities for its VCare platform, which helps care facilities monitor residents, prevent incidents and automate administrative work such as documentation and reporting. - learn more
- Clocktower Technology Ventures participated in Mainstay’s more than $18M growth round alongside new investors Parker89, Stackpoint, Alpaca VC and FJ Labs, as well as returning backers Khosla Ventures and Era Ventures. Mainstay also acquired AI-powered listing platform Truelist and will use the funding to bring its real estate data, pricing and automation infrastructure to more brokerages, agents and smaller investors. - learn more
- Amboy Street Ventures participated in Evvy’s $40M Series B, led by Catalio Capital Management and joined by new and returning investors including Rethink Impact, Muse Capital, Labcorp Venture Fund and General Catalyst. Evvy will use the funding to expand its AI-powered women’s health diagnostics and care platform, beginning with fertility, while growing distribution through physicians and strategic partners. - learn more
- Second Sight Ventures participated in Fin.com’s $20M seed round, led by Expa and Uber co-founder Garrett Camp, with backing from Coinbase Ventures and other investors. The payments infrastructure startup will use the funding to expand its cross-border network through additional acquisitions and plans to acquire a bank within six months. - learn more
- Clearlake Capital, Mantis Venture Capital and Sound Ventures participated in Factory’s $200M funding round, which valued the AI software development company at $5B and brought its total funding above $400M. Factory will use the capital to accelerate research, product development and global expansion for its platform, which enables enterprises to build, manage and improve software using autonomous AI agents. - learn more
- Navitas Capital led Scaffold’s $15M seed round, with participation from D.R. Horton, Pulte Homes, Builders FirstSource and other construction-industry investors. The Austin startup will use the funding to expand its engineering team and broaden its AI-powered platform, which connects homebuilders, contractors and suppliers to automate scheduling, purchase orders and other coordination work. - learn more
- Halogen Ventures led it’s electric’s oversubscribed bridge round, joined by Wisdom Ventures, Future Communities, E8 Angels and other new and returning investors, bringing the curbside EV-charging startup’s total funding to $15M. The financing will support its rapid expansion, including a New York City contract to install hundreds of locally manufactured chargers across all five boroughs over the next three years. - learn more
- Matter Venture Partners participated in Delos Data’s more than $100M funding round alongside Matrix, Playground Global, Socratic Partners, Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund and IAG. The Palo Alto startup will use the capital to expand its engineering teams and accelerate development and sales of its Nonstop AI infrastructure, designed to reduce network bottlenecks and improve the speed and efficiency of AI inference. - learn more
- Mantis Venture Capital and Gold House participated in A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya’s $5.5M pre-seed round alongside SV Angel, BoxGroup, Quiet Capital and other investors. Founded by Spotify’s former head of innovation, the startup is developing playful music apps that let users remix, manipulate and collaboratively create sounds rather than simply stream or generate songs. - learn more
LA Exits
- Headspace has agreed to be acquired by AI healthcare company Sword in a deal expected to close by the beginning of Q4 2026; financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition will combine Headspace’s mental health brand, global consumer base and network of more than 15,000 providers with Sword’s AI-powered clinical platform to offer more personalized and continuous care. - learn more
- Nasty Gal was acquired by WSG Brands for an undisclosed amount, adding the women’s fashion label to a portfolio that also includes Von Dutch and Allbirds. WSG plans to expand Nasty Gal internationally and into categories such as footwear, beauty, activewear and accessories while growing its direct-to-consumer, wholesale and licensing businesses. - learn more
- Converse Health was acquired by healthcare AI company Hello Patient for an undisclosed amount, bringing its back-office automation technology into the buyer’s platform. The combination will allow medical practices to use one system for patient communications and administrative work such as referral processing, chart follow-ups, authorization paperwork and medical records. - learn more
