BendShelters was a finalist at the 2024 MIT PKG IDEAS Social Innovation Challenge. BentShelters provides sustainable, modular, and easily deployable bamboo shelters for displaced populations in Myanmar, a Southeast Asian under a dictatorship. Currently, BendShelters is working on schools, clinics, and communal spaces to rebuild communities. To learn more about BendShelters, click here.
The Foundation for Innovation in Real Estate (FIRE) has awarded two $25,000 grants to MITdesignX 24 teams COBI and BendShelters. FIRE is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that exists to catalyze people and technology in the built environment and is focused on new and emerging technologies in real estate and construction.
FIRE’s partnership with MITdesignX is meant to source and support new products and companies that can revolutionize an aspect of construction or building management. COBI fits squarely into this thesis around new building materials and BendShelters around FIRE’s affordable housing initiative.
FIRE was founded by Matt Knight, a PropTech investor specializing in early-stage technology in buildings.