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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At Augmented World Expo, Santa Monica-based Snap unveiled SPECS, its new standalone augmented reality glasses. The device is designed to bring AI assistance, work tools, entertainment and shared experiences into the physical world without requiring a phone, puck or tether.
The pitch is not simply “screens on your face.” Snap is trying to position SPECS as a different kind of computer: one that can understand what you are looking at, respond to your surroundings and make AI useful in the moment. That could mean directions placed where you need them, a virtual workspace that travels with you or AI assistance that sees the same context you do.
The developer piece may be just as important as the hardware. Snap says developers have already built hundreds of Lenses for SPECS, and the company is rolling out new tools inside Lens Studio, including agentic development support through Claude Code, Codex and Cursor, a new Native Development Kit and a spatial benchmark for AR experiences.
That matters because AR has always had a chicken-and-egg problem: impressive demos, but not enough everyday reasons to wear the device. Snap is trying to solve that by building not only the glasses, but the software, developer tools, operating system, computer vision stack and creative ecosystem around them.
Specs
SPECS are available for pre-order at $2,195, with a $200 refundable deposit, and are expected to ship this fall in the U.S., U.K. and France.
For Snap, the bigger question is whether augmented reality can finally move from developer demos and futuristic keynote moments into something people actually want to use. SPECS are its latest answer, but the real test will be whether developers can build experiences useful enough to make the glasses feel less like a gadget and more like a habit.
More from this week’s LA startup and venture scene below.
🤝 Venture Deals
LA Companies
- Critical Energy raised $19M in seed funding co-led by Upfront Ventures and Susa Ventures, and also secured $3M in venture debt from Silicon Valley Bank, bringing its total early capital to $22M. Founded by SpaceX alum Spencer Jackson, the company is adapting rocket-engine-style turbomachinery for modular geothermal power plants and plans to use the funding to build its first 2.5 MW project. - learn more
LA Venture Funds
- Group 11 co-led Dream’s $260M funding round alongside Bicycle Capital, with participation from Antler, Bain Capital Ventures, Tru Arrow Partners and other investors. Dream builds sovereign AI and cyber defense technology for governments and critical infrastructure operators, with the new funding valuing the company at $3B and bringing total funding to $412M. The company plans to use the capital to expand its national cyber defense and AI platforms across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. - learn more
- Undeterred Ventures participated in Portal Biotechnologies’ oversubscribed $9M financing round, which was led by NFX with backing from existing investors including IA Ventures, Pear VC, IKJ Capital and TechU Ventures. Watertown-based Portal is building cell engineering infrastructure for drug discovery, AI data generation and cell therapy manufacturing, using its mechanoporation platform to deliver RNA, gene editors and other molecules into hard-to-transfect cells. The company also expanded its DARPA work through an Embedded Entrepreneur Initiative contract tied to point-of-care cell therapy manufacturing and says its platform has been adopted by more than 100 customer sites. - learn more
- Clocktower Ventures participated in Trace Finance’s $32M Series A, which was led by CoinFund with backing from Coinbase Ventures, Haun Ventures, Jump Crypto, Valor Capital, Paxos, HOF Capital and others. Trace Finance is building regulated banking and stablecoin infrastructure for cross-border payments across Brazil, the U.S. and emerging markets, combining local payment rails, FX, compliance operations and stablecoin settlement. The company has processed more than $10B in institutional cross-border volume and will use the funding to expand product capabilities and grow across LatAm, APAC and other priority markets. - learn more
- Alexandria Venture Investments participated in Vedana Therapeutics’ $46M Series A, which was co-led by Westlake BioPartners and Canaan Partners, with additional participation from Dawn Biopharma. Seattle-based Vedana is developing next-generation preventive migraine therapies, including antibody-based treatments targeting PACAP and CGRP pathways, with the funding going toward advancing its internally discovered portfolio of subcutaneously delivered antibodies. - learn more
- Fulcrum Capital participated in HighGround’s $6.5M seed round, which was led by Next Frontier Capital with additional backing from Tandem Ventures and Context Ventures. HighGround is building an intelligence platform for defense and aerospace capital markets, helping investors, operators and advisors analyze government spending, procurement signals, deal risks and market demand. The funding will support expanded data coverage and deeper analytical models for defense-focused investment and business development workflows. - learn more
- Bonfire Ventures participated in Vali Health’s $6M funding round, alongside Supernode, Comma Capital and healthcare industry veteran Jacquelyn Kung. San Francisco-based Vali Health is building responsible AI infrastructure for healthcare, helping providers and health systems evaluate, monitor and safely deploy AI tools across clinical and administrative workflows. - learn more
- Clocktower Ventures participated in Karta’s $15M Series A, which was led by Galaxy Ventures, with additional backing from Canary and Illuminate Financial. Miami-based Karta is building a WhatsApp-first premium U.S. credit card for non-U.S. clients, helping global travelers with U.S. bank or brokerage accounts access dollar-denominated spending power without needing a traditional U.S. credit history. The company also secured a $125M credit facility from Community Investment Management, bringing its total new financing to $140M. - learn more
- Alexandria Venture Investments participated in Triveni Bio’s $65M Series C, which was co-led by Ascenta Capital and Janus Henderson Investors, with significant participation from Deep Track Capital. Watertown-based Triveni is developing antibody treatments for immunological and inflammatory disorders, with the funding going toward expanding clinical development of TRIV-573, its bispecific antibody targeting atopic dermatitis, including a larger Phase 2 proof-of-concept study expected to begin later this year. - learn more
- WndrCo participated in XDOF’s $70M funding round, alongside investors including Thrive Capital, Spark Capital, a16z and Lux Capital. XDOF is building robotics data infrastructure for AI labs, handling the unglamorous but critical work of collecting, labeling and organizing real-world robot training data. The company says it already works with about 20 customers, including several frontier AI labs. - learn more
- Fika Ventures participated in SubBase’s $7M Series A, which was led by FINTOP and brings the company’s total funding to more than $15M. Ft. Lauderdale-based SubBase is a construction materials procurement platform that helps specialty trade contractors and self-performing general contractors manage pricing requests, orders, supplier communication, delivery tracking and invoice reconciliation in one system. The company plans to use the funding to expand product and engineering, deepen supplier integrations and build more AI-driven workflow and intelligence features. - learn more
- Upfront Ventures participated in Bland’s $50M Series C, which was led by Dell Technologies Capital with additional participation from HubSpot Ventures, Archerman Capital and Tribeca Venture Partners. San Francisco-based Bland builds voice AI agents for complex phone, SMS and chat conversations, with a focus on longer, high-stakes workflows in regulated industries like healthcare and financial services. The round brings Bland’s total funding to more than $100M. - learn more
- Impatient Ventures participated in Traysar’s $25M seed round, which was led by Silent Ventures and included backing from Lux Capital, Ora Global, NeverLift VC, Mana, New Vista, Entree Capital and angel investors. Traysar emerged from stealth at the 2026 Reindustrialize Summit as a subterranean defense tech company building autonomous “subterra” platforms designed to detect, penetrate and secure underground environments. The company says its technology is aimed at addressing underground military facilities and other hard-to-reach subsurface domains. - learn more
- MaC Venture Capital participated in Swsh’s $4M seed round, which was led by Game Changers Ventures with additional backing from Stellation Capital, SignalFire and angel investors including Scooter Braun and Guy Oseary. Swsh is building an AI-powered fan engagement platform for live events, helping artists, teams and brands organize fan-captured photos and videos while turning that content into audience insights and first-party engagement data. - learn more
- B Capital led SolarSquare Energy’s $53M Series C, backing the Mumbai-based residential rooftop solar company as investor interest grows in India’s home solar market. The round valued SolarSquare at roughly $450M–$500M and included participation from existing investors including Lightspeed, Lowercarbon Capital, Rainmatter by Zerodha and Good Capital. SolarSquare plans to use the funding to expand into new cities, strengthen its technology platform and scale operations. - learn more
LA Exits
- Mavida Health, a digital mental health company focused on women and families, was acquired by WPS Health Solutions. The deal expands WPS’ digital health capabilities with Mavida’s virtual therapy, medication management and specialized mental health support across fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, loss, parenting and menopause. Financial terms were not disclosed. - learn more
- Vica, an AI video startup focused on helping small businesses create cinematic-quality marketing content, was acquired by Addi. The acquisition brings Vica’s AI video capabilities into Addi’s growth platform for Main Street businesses, which combines financial intelligence with marketing tools to help small businesses attract and retain customers. - learn more
- GateMaker, a female-founded influencer marketing agency, was added to Residence, the Los Angeles-based global network of independent creative companies. The deal brings GateMaker’s creator economy expertise across paid, earned and owned influencer relationships into Residence’s broader creative network, which also includes companies like BUCK, OK COOL, Giant Ant, Part & Sum and Wild. - learn more
- Gavel, an AI-native legal tech company used by legal professionals to draft, review and automate legal work in Microsoft Word and on the web, was acquired by Relativity. The deal will bring Gavel’s drafting, redlining and document automation tools into Relativity’s legal data intelligence platform, allowing work product created in RelativityOne and Relativity aiR to be edited in Microsoft Word while syncing back to the underlying matter data. Financial terms were not disclosed. - learn more