Last Week in ConTech - 1 January 2024
Happy New Year! + Local zoning reform to address housing shortages
Hey there!
I wanted to say thank you for supporting and reading this newsletter throughout 2023.
I started this 6 months ago as a side project to track all the changes and updates in the ConTech ecosystem after struggling to find a consolidated resource.
Since then it’s slowly grown to be read by a diverse range of industry stakeholders from investors and founders to contractors and consultants.
There's going to be a few exciting updates in 2024 including a new short series exploring how we can improve technology adoption in our industry by codifying best practices and lessons learnt from innovation offices. Ultimately, the goal of this newsletter is to help more people in construction use tech.
If you have any ideas, improvements or feedback please respond to this email or if you just want to chat feel free to put a time in my calendly - I love meeting people in our industry.
Happy New Year and hope you have a wonderful 2024 ahead!
Bhragan
A summary of the construction technology (ConTech) startup funding, news, acquisitions, policy and regulatory changes which occurred this week.
Last Week in ConTech - 1 January 2024
In this issue there are:
3 Startup Fundings
4 Policy and Regulatory Changes
1 New investment funds
2 Acquisitions
9 News articles
Reading time: 3m 30s
Startup Funding
Construction Robotics
BotBuilt, a North Carolina startup, raised $12.4m in seed funding. They build and operate robot equipped factories to automate the frame building process for home builders. More here.
[Hiring - 5 roles in Software, 2 roles in Other]
Site Monitoring
Helin, a Dutch company, raised $3.3m in seed funding. They are building an industrial edge intelligence platform helping energy companies optimize management of industrial devices including cloud monitoring of operations through linking to site CCTV assets. More here.
[Hiring - 4 roles in Software, 3 roles in Other, 1 role in Sales]
Environment
Gentian, a London startup, raised $1.6m in pre-seed funding. They are building a biodiversity monitoring software which converts high resolution imagery into assessments of habitat types, identifies opportunities for green roof retrofits, assesses urban vegetation and urban green infrastructure for climate adaptation. More here.
Policy and Regulatory Changes
UK to Introduce Climate Levy Starting 2027
A carbon border tax will be introduced in the UK from 2027.
This will affect imports of iron, steel, aluminum, ceramics and cement.
The tax is expected to depend on the amount of carbon emitted in production and the delta between the UK's carbon price and the carbon price in the country of origin.
Turquoise taillights tell you this Mercedes is driving autonomously
Regulators are working to determine a light color to signal a car is driving autonomously.
Turquoise is recommended with California permitting approval to use the light color in its fleet of test cars and Nevada allowing it on selected models after 2026.
Homeowner group files court challenge against pro-construction housing laws
A coalition of homeowners filed a suit against 4 laws passed in Montana (US) focused on addressing the housing shortage by making it easier to build homes in situations where construction has been hampered by local zoning rules.
The 4 laws are:
Senate Bill 382: Comprehensive planning statute overhaul that would require large cities to allocate space to house population growth.
Senate Bill 245: Requires cities of 7,000 residents or more to allow apartment-style housing in most areas set aside as commercial zones.
Senate Bill 323: Requires cities of 5,000 residents or more to allow duplex housing on any home lot.
Senate Bill 528: Requires cities to adopt regulations allowing more construction of accessory dwelling units, or secondary housing structures that share parcels with larger homes.
Landlords Required to Build EV Chargers at Renters’ Request with New Illinois Law
Under Senate Bill 40, starting Jan 1, single family homes and newly constructed residential buildings with parking spaces are to provide a conduit to allow EV charging if needed.
New Funds & Acquisitions
Cambia Capital, a Utah fund, raised $20m to invest in sustainability focused real estate specifically exploring mass timber projects. More here.
Powermers Smart, a commercial transportation and industrial equipment maker, will go public via SPAC in a $2b deal. More here.
Infroneer, a Japanese construction company, will acquire wind farm developer Japan Wind Development for $1.4b. More here.
News
Climate tech startups to drive global change in 2024
The built world accounts for 37% of global emissions yet climate solutions in this area only receive 3% of annual VC dollars.
In 2023 VC investment in building efficiency startups has grown by 73%.
Hands on climate tech companies are seeking to address the worker shortage. More companies will expand their role in training and developing climate workers in roles such as construction, solar panel installation and heat pump installation.
Examples are: Montamo and VARM
A Look Into Commercial Construction (GS Futures)
Immigrants make up more of the US construction labor force than ever
In a tight labor market with shortages, immigrants are helping to bridge the labor shortfall.
Last year, foreign-born US workers composed a record 25% of the construction labor force.
The industry is short 525,000 workers.
This year’s top tech stories (Construction Dive)
Bird may be bankrupt, but shared micromobility is doing just fine
Around 70% of EV charging stations in today’s market are underutilized
The 5 Dos and Don’ts when Launching a Micromobility Brand in the US
Hyperloop’s loss is high-speed rail’s gain (TechCrunch)
I Want a City, Not a Museum - New York housing costs (New York Times)
If I missed anything this week, please reply and let me know! I’ll make sure to include it next week.