Amazon Seeds Plant Prefab

Amazon is officially investing in a home builder. Its Alexa Fund invests in voice-activated technologies, and recently invested $6.7 million in manufactured home builder Plant Prefab's Series A funding round.

The Alexa Fund's investment is thought to be part of an expansive strategy by Amazon to get more smart tech into homes while they are being designed and built. Plant Prefab manufactures homes for single- and multifamily markets, and bills itself as a low-cost alternative to traditional home building in Western markets crippled by supply shortages, extreme weather events, and tight affordability, Fortune reports.

Last week, Amazon hosted an event that showcased its ambitions to make its Alexa voice technology a centerpiece of the smart home. In addition to redesigned Echo Dot, Amazon unveiled an Alexa-powered wall clock, an Alexa-powered in-car device, as well as smart plugs and a smart microwave. Paul Bernard, director of the Alexa Fund, said in a statement that Plant Prefab caught Amazon’s attention because it makes “connected homes more accessible to customers and developers.” Alexa now powers 20,000 voice-activated, smart-home devices made by 3,500 different companies, he said.

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