Naples investor puts $1.05 million into 3D-printed seawall manufacturer

Naples-based Tamiami Angel Funds has invested $1.05 million in a Miami environmental technology company that’s designing and building 3D printed seawalls.

That’s right, printed seawalls.

The company, Kind Designs, uses 3D-printing technology to build seawalls that mimic coral reefs and mangroves. These manufactured seawalls are “reinforced with recycled ocean plastic fibers and contain embedded water-quality sensors to create a global network of water data,” Angel Fund says in a statement.

The walls create a biodiverse ecosystem and improve water quality while dissipating wave action.

Tamiami Angel Funds’ latest investment will bring the total of what it’s put into the company to $1.55 million. The latest round of funding will go toward expanding robotic capacity to handle government projects, including recent contracts with waterfront military bases.

Kind, founded in 2022, operates out of a 50,000-square-foot warehouse on the Miami River in a space that allows it to transport the walls by barge to residential, commercial and municipal projects.

Its three 3D printers can also be transported to a job site.

Kind’s founder and CEO Anya Freeman says in the statement that the company currently has a $10 million sales pipeline.

Tamiami Angel Funds is made up of five member-managed funds “that allow high-net-worth individuals and families to invest in promising early stage and expansion-stage companies located in the U.S., with a preference to those in the state of Florida.”

Fifth Avenue Family Office, a Naples investment firm, administers the funds.