- Samara, cofounded by Airbnb’s Joe Gebbia, is selling modular accessory dwelling units.
- In late February, the startup acquired a 150,000-square-foot factory in Mexico.
- See inside its most expensive unit, a $324,000 two-bedroom tiny home.
A new startup wants to drop tiny homes into your backyard.
No, this isn’t some new spin on “The Wizard of Oz” (Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater already have that covered). It’s California-based Samara.
If the name doesn’t ring a bell, you might recognize one of its cofounders, Joe Gebbia. And if Gebbia doesn’t sound familiar, you’ll surely recognize the other company he cofounded: Airbnb.
Like its cofounder, Samara has roots in the home rental giant, having previously functioned as its in-house think tank and design studio for six years. (Samara is backed by Airbnb and its other cofounder, Brian Chesky.)
But the startup — which became its own entity in 2022 — isn’t in the business of renting homes.
Quite the opposite: It’s manufacturing factory-built accessory dwelling units (ADUs), or tiny homes, that can be dropped into Californians’ backyards.
