Last Week in ConTech - 2 October 2023
Decarbonizing cement
ConTech Roundup - Startup funding & news and acquisitions that was important this week in Construction Technology. No fluff. No hype.
Last Week in ConTech - 2 October 2023
Startup Funding
Design
Rayon, a French startup, raised €4m in seed funding. They are building a browser based collaborative design tool for architecture, engineering and construction. More here.
Continuum Industries, a Scottish startup, raised $10m in Series A funding. They help infrastructure developers and utility companies to visualize, analyze, and assess routing options for power lines, onshore and offshore cables, and pipelines for hydrogen, water, and CO2. More here.
Building Decarbonization
Novo, a German startup, raised $1.1m in pre-seed funding. They are creating a solution which analyzes buildings and provides an energy renovation plan for owners to reduce emissions and connects them to subsidies and loans to reduce the renovation costs. More here.
Yotta Energy, a Texas startup, raised $8m in funding. They provide solar, energy storage and EV charging technology for commercial buildings. More here.
Vamo, a German startup, raised €3m in seed funding. They install heat pumps and provide financing structures for consumers. More here.
Feasibility
Testfit, a Texas startup, raised $20m in Series A funding. They are building a generative design and real estate feasibility tool to help real estate developers, architects, urban planners to easily solve site plans. More here.
Digital Twin
Neara, an Australian startup, raised $10m in Series B extension funding. They are building a digital twin and infrastructure modeling platform which creates 3D network wide models for simulations and analytics. More here.
Infrastructure
Oneka Technologies, a Canadian startup, raised $24.25m in Series A and grant funding. They are building modular desalination systems which turn ocean water using renewable wave energy into fresh water. They also finance, design, install and operate their system to deliver water as a service. More here.
Drones
Infravision, an Australian startup, raised $23m in Series A funding. They use drones to upgrade and monitor power lines. More here.
Training
Transfr, a New York startup, raised $40m in Series C funding. They use VR tools to support training and career development including offering simulations for the construction industry. More here.
Water
Notation Labs, an Arizona startup, raised $2.5m in funding. They provide automated leak detection and prevention services. More here.
Construction
IVO systems, a Wisconsin startup, raised $1.5m in seeding funding. They are building a construction management solution. More here.
News
Brimstone, a startup which makes limestone free cement and Sublime which makes cement electrochemically, have received certifications and approval for commercial use. More here & here.
Robots open a path to sustainable construction (AFR)
Aurecon, a civil engineering design firm, worked with the University of Technology Sydney to design a robot that could deliver 300-400 millimeter screw fixings to accelerate the construction of a timber building.
They successfully utilized the robot on a live construction site to install around 200 screws and found that the robot was able to work at a higher speed and be operated fully autonomously, unlocking the opportunity to operate it overnight as well (24 hour operation).
2023’s biggest tech deals are all climate infrastructure (Sifted, paywall)
Climate infrastructure is defined as companies working on green tech which requires a large physical footprint and are capital intensive. There tends to be 2 types:
Companies working on breakthrough tech such as nuclear fusion or carbon capture tech and require plants and factories to scale.
Companies which have little innovation on their own but are building existing technology at scale.
The four largest equity deals in Europe have been:
H2 Green Steel: developing steel manufacturing using hydrogen
Northvolt and Verkor: both battery manufacturers
Zenobe Energy: developing charging infrastructure
If I missed anything this week, please reply and let me know! I’ll make sure to include it next week