Robotics and artificial intelligence drew investors’ interest in recent contech funding rounds.
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Artificial intelligence has continued tocapture the attention of buildersacross the construction spectrum, and investors are no different. Firms that offer robotics, both as a fleet and as retrofit products, along with AI products, captured new infusions of cash in recent funding rounds.
Read on for six recent investments in the contech space.
TerraFirma
$115 million
TerraFirma, a construction robotics firm led by former SpaceX engineers, hasraised $115 million, which includes $100 million from a Series A funding round led by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, according to a July 14 announcement.
The company’s full-stack robotic infrastructure platform combines AI-enabled preconstruction software with a remote command-and-control center, according to the announcement. The startup’s platform also includes semi-autonomous heavy machinery, spanning from excavators to dozers, loaders, rollers and skid steers. The system, per the firm, lets operators control fleets of machines from a screen.
With the funding, Texas-based TerraFirma will expand its engineering, manufacturing, operations and construction teams and will continue to develop its semi-autonomous heavy equipment systems, per the news release.
Arrakis
$37.5 million
Arrakis, which helps industrial companies such as construction firms embed AI agents into their tech stacks, hasemerged from stealth with $37.5 million in funding, according to a July 22 news release. The two funding mechanisms were a $30 million Series A funding round and a $7.5 million Seed round, led by venture capital firms Blossom Capital and Accel respectively.
The company, which operates from London and Paris, combines forward-deployed AI engineers with a model-agnostic enterprise AI platform and applied AI research tuned to industrial operations such as construction, according to the announcement. This allows prospective companies to train AI agents in weeks and deploy the agents into firms’ existing systems
Arrakis will use the funds to triple its company headcount, strengthen its security and platform capabilities and fuel its expansion into the U.S., Europe and the Middle East, per the announcement.
Gritt
$32.4 million
Gritt, which retrofits robotic arms and AI systems onto existing equipment such as skid steers and forklifts,launched with $32.4 million in fundingvia pre-Seed and Series A funding rounds, according to a July 21 announcement. The Series A, worth $26 million, was led by venture capital firm Obvious Ventures.
Once in place, the Belmont, California-based firm’s products enable machinery to pick and place, assemble and transport materials with millimeter precision amid fluid environments, Gritt claims. With its machines on large-scale jobsites, Gritt can capture and process data in real time to aid supervisors.
In addition, Gritt’s system is adaptable and learns from each deployment, according to the firm, cutting task timelines from months to days.
Monumental
$32 million
Monumental, a hardware and software development firm that aims to address the labor shortageaccording to a July 15 announcement. The round was led by venture capital firm Khosla Ventures
The firm’s AI software platform, Atrium, controls its fleet of robots that act as a construction team. The machines use advanced sensors, computer vision and small cranes to accurately lay brick and mortar, according to the firm. So far, the robots have built the walls of a school, a community center, a hotel and stretches of a canal wall, along with more than 100 homes in the Netherlands and the U.K.
A key facet of the Amsterdam-based company is its business proposition — customers hire the firm as an independent subcontractor, which is then paid for finished walls, per Monumental. That takes the risk of owning and running the robots out of the customer’s hands.
With the funding, Monumental will grow its team of hardware and software engineers, increase the number of robots on sites across Europe and widen the range of construction work the robots can do. Additionally, the firm plans to launch in the U.S. this year, per the announcement.
Buildforce
$10 million
Buildforce, a tech-enabled staffing business that focuses on electricians,snagged $10 million in a Series A funding round, according to a July 28 announcement. The round was led by investment management firm Saepio Capital.
The company uses its proprietary platform to connect electricians with electrical contractors, per the news release. It offers a mobile app for electricians to find work and a web-based application for builders looking to hire electricians. As of July 28, Buildforce electricians have logged over 2 million hours working with the company on over 2,000 commercial construction projects, per the release.
With the funding, Buildforce, which is based in Houston and Austin, Texas, will continue its national expansion and further develop its technology, per the announcement.
SubBase
$7 million
SubBase, a contech firm that focuses on material procurement for the construction industry,raised $7 millionin a Series A funding round, according to a June 17 announcement. FINTOP, a venture capital firm, led the round.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based SubBase provides an online platform that unifies the procurement process, according to the news release. Specialty builders and self-performing general contractors can use the platform to request pricing, place orders, communicate with suppliers, track deliveries and reconcile invoices. SubBase also features integrations with construction accounting systems.
With the funding, the firm will pursue product and engineering growth, expand its supplier network and support an AI-driven intelligence and workflow layer trained on pricing, supplier performance and delivery data.
