The ongoing housing crisis in the United States has created widespread challenges related to access and affordability. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s The Gap report, the U.S. faces a shortage of 7.1 million affordable rental homes for extremely low-income households, with only 35 available for every 100 who need one. As cities and regions grapple with rising demand, aging infrastructure, and systemic inequities, the need for innovative, scalable solutions is becoming increasingly critical to expand access to stable and affordable housing—particularly for vulnerable populations.
In response to this pressing issue, VentureWell E-Team Program and Aspire Climatetech alums Candice Delamarre and Armelle Coutant co-founded Kit Switch, a San Francisco–based startup that delivers ready-to-install apartment interior kits designed to streamline construction, reduce project timelines, and improve consistency and efficiency in the building process.
We sat down with Candice to discuss what drives her team’s approach, how the team maintains sustainability, and how prefab housing innovation can set the stage for community-integrated housing plans.
What inspired the creation of Kit Switch, and how does it address challenges in traditional construction?
Construction involves coordinating a wide range of materials and labor. It’s all about orchestrating what could easily turn into a big mess if you don’t have people with experience managing complex schedules over months or even years. There’s so much to handle that projects often end up delayed or over budget.
That’s what makes Kit Switch different. We productize interior design and deliver standardized products, designed for quality and functionality. Our products are continuously improved upon based on supply chain and design trends, presented with upfront pricing, shipped just-in-time, and installed turnkey with no delays, change orders, or rework through the process. A Kit Switch kitchen arrives with everything—casework, finished surfaces, appliances, plumbing fixtures, and electrical devices—so once it’s installed, it’s ready to use.
What role does sustainability play in your product and business model?
We created Kit Switch to find a more efficient and sustainable way to use resources. The reality is deferred maintenance is widespread in multi-family housing across the U.S., leaving many buildings in need of significant rehabilitation—and that’s before factoring in the need for further decarbonization and electrification.
We conduct a sustainability life cycle analysis on our products to identify opportunities to reduce their carbon footprint. For us, that means selecting durable and healthy materials, leveraging local manufacturing facilities, designing for energy and water efficiency, and enabling easy disassembly to make targeted repairs simple, so that our products last longer and less waste ends up in landfills.
Kit Switch has a diverse, women-led team—what impact has that had on your work and the industry?
Building a diverse team has always been important to us, especially as we grow. When we first started developing the idea for Kit Switch, Armelle and I were graduate students working on a larger team that was made up entirely of women. Early on, we noticed how excited people were to see women in construction, and that response has stayed with us. Since then, we’ve brought on interns and young professionals who are eager to find their place in the industry, and their enthusiasm continues to inspire us.
Being a woman in this industry can be challenging at times, but the landscape is shifting. For us, it’s deeply meaningful to be part of that change—to drive innovation while also helping redefine who gets to be part of the conversation. That perspective continues to shape the story we’re building.
How is Kit Switch supporting the affordable housing market and small-scale urban developments?
At Kit Switch, we strive to strike a balance between efficiency and sustainability. Because we manufacture close to the construction sites we serve, we can produce smaller batches [of materials] and ship them more frequently, resulting in less chaos to manage on-site and making it easier to take on smaller-scale projects.
Large general contractors building hundreds of housing units benefit from economies of scale. But for developers working on 10-20 unit buildings on tight urban lots, it’s a different story.
That’s where Kit Switch comes in. Our products give developers access to cost savings and a more streamlined process, thanks to our pre-designed catalog and standardized process from design through build. And because we produce close to where people live, we’re not just supporting housing—we’re also helping create jobs in the communities we serve.
How did the VentureWell Aspire program help you grow as founders and prepare to scale?
The Aspire program taught us how to become business owners and leaders. As co-founders, we obviously took Kit Switch very seriously, but the Aspire mentors helped us take ourselves seriously in our respective roles. Through the program, we learned how to run a business—from navigating startup fundraising and managing an advisory board, to reporting on our finances—all the things you don’t always consider when you’re just starting out and primarily focused on product-market fit.
As you’re looking to raise funds, what are you looking for in investors?
We recently closed a fundraising round, which is helping us grow our team. Thanks to Aspire, we knew ahead of time the type of investors to target, how to structure our round and investment terms, how to organize our data room for due diligence, and more. We’ve been seeking investors who not only provide capital but also bring the networks and resources that will help us grow, can support future fundraising efforts, and share our long-term vision for Kit Switch.
In what ways do equity in the housing market and the creation of more affordable housing remain key goals for Kit Switch’s work?
Equity is at the heart of what we do. Many of the developers we work with focus on affordable housing. From supportive housing to workforce housing, we intentionally seek out partners who are addressing a range of housing needs.
Standardizing the process from design to construction allows us to dedicate more time to creating high-quality products and engage communities in the design process. If designing a kitchen can be as simple as dragging and dropping components and selecting finishes, then surely we have the capacity to listen to and incorporate community input. That’s the future we’d love to see happen and help create.
Are you a startup founder preparing for investor engagement? Learn more about the Aspire program.