Fran O’Sullivan: Zuru builds its house on cash

Zuru’s Mat Mowbray outlines strategies at the company’s Shenzhen HQ. Photo / Alastair Crozier

OPINION

Stellar ambition. A legendary appetite for risk-taking, a reliance on automation and technology, and, the smarts to fund a breath-taking expansion entirely from cash flow is what makes Zuru’s co-founders a standout in each of the highly competitive fields they have entered.

What’s notable from a briefing by Zuru’s co-founder and co-CEO Mat Mowbray, at its headquarters in Shenzhen, is that the company has not turned to the international capital markets to fund growth.

That’s even as they build out Zuru Tech to disrupt the housing and commercial building markets — through the development of what they believe is the first digital building construction system in the world where a house can be designed, shipped and assembled in a matter of days.

Mowbray exudes energy as he talks about Zuru’s North Star and discloses the co-founders’ ambition for it to be one of the biggest tech companies in the world by disrupting the US$22 trillion ($35 trillion) construction and property industry.

The project has been 10 years in development. Mowbray says the aim is to design and construct any building from a one-storey residential dwelling to a 60-storey commercial tower at pace.

The business’s expansion, from a small factory on the outskirts of Guangdong — birthplace to Zuru Toys — to what is now an integrated private company with more than 5000 team members in over 30 locations, has been funded entirely from cashflow.

That’s apart from the $20,000 the brothers’ family kicked in to help them get started in their initial toy manufacturing business.

Zuru’s foray into the international toy business is well known. It has also developed a second pillar, Zuru Edge, which is driving its entry into the fast-moving consumer goods business.

But Zuru Tech is what fires up Mowbray’s enthusiasm.

He explains Zuru plans to revolutionise the homes construction business through the use of state-of-the-art software, cutting-edge robotics and virtual reality technology.

Effectively this means a buyer could sit at their home computer and design a home that is then built and delivered to a site.

To achieve this ambition, Zuru has more than 500 people involved across global offices — two in India, two in Italy and also several in China.

There are more than 500 team members working on the project and some six R&D facilities are involved,

Mowbray explains they are using cutting-edge software and technology across all arms of the Zuru businesses.

Their teams have built their own fully automated production lines and robots and are testing their systems on a scaled-down production line — one-quarter of the size of the planned final line.

This is enabling the team to perfect every aspect of tech-driven house manufacturing. A full-size Giga Factory is under construction.

The story of the Mowbray sibling’s legendary move to China is well-known. Brothers Mat and Nick Mowbray moved to China in the early 2000s at age 21 (Mat) and 18 (Nick). Nick Mowbray is also co-founder and co-CEO and leads international marketing.

Their sister Anna later joined them.

The company has appointed Mike Wilding as chief operating officer; Anna has stepped back from the leadership in Greater China (Hong Kong and Shenzhen) and now lives in Auckland.

One thing is certain, if Zuru succeeds in its ambitious plans to disrupt the house and commercial construction business, it won’t be long before the investment bankers come calling with proposals for international IPOs.

Markets love winners — particularly in the technology space.