Last Week in ConTech - 11 July 2023

Hyperloop, Flying Cars & Decarbonization

ConTech Roundup - Startup funding & news and acquisitions that was important this week in Construction Technology. No fluff. No hype.

Last Week in ConTech - 11 July 2023

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Startup Funding

Transport

Hardt Hyperloop, a Dutch Startup raised €12M in funding. They are building and testing a hyperloop transport system. More here.

Urban SDK, a Florida based startup raised an undisclosed seed round. They’ve built a cloud based traffic management and smart mobility data platform. More here.

Materials
Material Evolution, a UK startup, has raised $19m in Series A funding. They are making low-carbon cement from industrial waste. More here.

GeologicAI, a startup based in Calgary Canada has raised $20m in Series A funding. They’ve built a digital rock viewing and analysis software tailored to the mining industry. More here.

Building Decarbonization

Gradient Comfort, a San Francisco startup, raised an additional $9m in Series A funding (total $27.5m). They make window-mounted heat pumps which eliminate the need for professional installation. Link here.
Quick note: HVAC startup funding is surging & are important part of building decarbonization. The no. of heat pumps installed globally will increase from 180m (2020) to 600m (2030). Heat pumps are 3x more efficient than traditional fossil fuel boilers.

Construction

Pragmacore, a Russian startup, raised a $825k round. They’ve built a construction management platform. More here.

Energy

VECKTA, a San Diego startup, raised an undisclosed amount of funding. They are an energy transition platform which helps businesses adopt distributed energy resources, build microgrids and more. More here.

Geosophy, a French startup raised €1.75m in funding. They’ve built a tool to analyze building sites to determine their geothermal energy potential. More here [French link].

Gridpoint, a Virginia, US based startup raised a $150m debt facility. They’ve built an energy optimization platform to decarbonize commercial buildings. More here.

Real Estate

Inspace, a Sydney, Australia startup, raised $6m in Series A funding. They built a virtual inspection platform for real estate developers and manager. More here.

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Acquisitions

P3 Services, a plumbing services acquisition platform acquired a Texas plumbing company, Anchor Plumbing.

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News

• Tesla is rumored to be purchasing Wiferion, a German electric vehicle wireless charging company. More here.

• Building value by decarbonizing the built environment (McKinsey)

• The first flying electric car approved by the FAA - for testing

• Is a Parking-Free Future Possible? (WIRED)

• Indoor air: the next public health frontier?

• The story of Titanium (Construction Physics)

• Geoengineering, interventions to alter the climate was in the spotlight.

  • The EU wants to crack down on rogue efforts to alter the atmosphere

  • EU calls for global talks on climate geoengineering risks

• Why We Should Stop Using the Word ‘Micromobility

• LinkedIn Post from KP Reddy, partner at Shadow Ventures (summarized)
  There is a rise of PE interest in AEC. It appears the reason is it is a PE proxy for macro trends on EV, Decarbonization and Affordable Housing. Original Link here.

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If I missed anything this week, please reply and let me know! I’ll make sure to include it next week.