04/10/2023: Miami-based climate-tech startup Kind Designs has the solution for our rising sea levels. Leveraging 3D concrete printing technology as a faster, cheaper, and more sustainable construction method, they will produce Livings Seawalls. These underwater structures protect our shores, improve the ocean’s biodiversity, and monitor water quality.
Miami Startup Sets Out to Rescue our Oceans
The sea levels are rising. The ocean’s water quality is getting worse. Marine biodiversity is decreasing. Coral reefs are facing extinction. All these environmental challenges are threatening our oceans’ wellbeing. One Florida-based climate-tech startup is taking the problem head-on: Kind Designs. Operating from Miami, a city experiencing this issue firsthand, Kind Designs was established to address the challenges posed by the deteriorating state of our oceans. For CEO and founder Anya Freeman, issues related to sea-level rise in Miami became a part of her everyday life. Instead of dwelling on the problem, she decided to seek a remedy. Therefore, Kind Designs was instituted with just that goal: finding a solution to address the challenges faced by our oceans. Their solution? Living Seawalls.
Living Seawalls: Technology Hand in Hand with Nature
Just like ordinary seawalls, Kind Designs’ structures are made to be placed underwater in order to improve the local marine environment. They protect the land from erosion, flooding, and storm surges, and help counteract sea-level rise. However, Kind Designs elevated the concept of seawalls by designing them to include distinctive, nature-like shapes. These Living Seawalls offer support to local marine life, enhancing the ocean’s biodiversity. Their rough texture and curvy design offer shelter for marine life like fish and crustaceans while providing a stable foundation for marine plants to grow on. Additionally, Living Seawalls are embedded with sensors that measure water quality using 15 different parameters, such as pH levels and salinity. Currently, this data needs to be collected manually by Florida counties. However, once these sensors are deployed, they will provide readily available data, saving the state many hours of manual labor.
Affordable, Fast, and Sustainable Production
One of the reasons seawalls aren’t more common is their price tag. These underwater structures are generally quite expensive to produce, so Kind Designs had to find an affordable way to construct them. Having conducted research on cost-efficient construction methods, they opted for 3D concrete printing to create their Living Seawalls. 3D concrete printing is generally seen as a cheaper, faster, and more sustainable alternative to conventional construction. Kind Designs has already proven the fact that it is much faster: using a 3D concrete printer, they manufacture a Living Seawall in under two hours. The hardware, software, and material for 3D printing were provided by CyBe Construction, a Dutch construction company. CyBe, founded in the legacy of a 100-year-old giant in the construction industry, has a decade of experience in 3D concrete printing. They develop their proprietary hardware, software, and material tailored for additive manufacturing. The company was founded with a vision for an improved and more sustainable society, aligning perfectly with Kind Designs’ goal for a better world.
Image: Kind Designs and CyBe Construction team members next to a Living Seawall and a CyBe Robot Crawler
Funding Kind Design’s Journey to Save the Ocean
After their printer was delivered, Kind Designs also received a three-week training from CyBe. With this experience in hand, they could start printing their Living Seawalls. Their production process was kickstarted by a seed funding round, co-led by GOVO Venture Partners, M4 Investing, and the Florida Opportunity Fund. During this funding round, Kind Designs raised a total of $5 million. With these funds, Kind Designs will be able to “protect all coastal cities with Kind’s Living Seawalls and grow far beyond our home state of Florida,” as Anya commented. Specifically, these funds will be applied to speed up their production. Kind Designs had received letters of intent for purchases totaling $4 million; hence, this additional capital to enable faster production was more than welcome. Now that Kind Designs has the proper equipment to make their Living Seawalls and the proper funding to do so efficiently, they are ready to protect America’s coastlines for the better and improve its oceans.