Last Week in ConTech - 2 September 2024
Rising public support for nuclear + investments in ports as key geopolitical assets
Last Week in ConTech is a summary of the most important construction startup funding, news, policy changes and national project investments in the last 7 days. The goal is to provide decision makers with information on technology solutions and macro-economic trends in construction to help drive innovation in the industry.
In this issue there are:
10 Startup Fundings
9 Policy and Regulatory Changes
1 US election policy update
5 New National Infrastructure Projects & Priorities
1 New investment fund
1 Acquisition
9 News articles
62 open jobs - view here
Reading time: 13 mins
Hey Everyone!
This newsletter is a consolidation of ~700 content data points. Given the amount, the hardest part is curating the most valuable information i.e what should I cut out.
Based on feedback and what I am finding is that the newsletter is a bit too long (~3k words each week). I am going to focus on further targeting the information to be more valuable and digestible to you.
For those curious, the main audience segment has been digitally native construction executives & professionals with an interest in innovation including the adoption of new solutions and processes. This lens has been how I have been filtering and curating the content.
If you have ideas, thoughts or feedback on what you find valuable or would love to see, please let me know.
If you have any feedback or tips on information I should include in the newsletter, please provide it in this form.
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Startup Funding
Scheduling
Planera, a Californian startup, raised $13.5m in Series A funding with Brick and Mortar Ventures investing. They develop scheduling and planning software for commercial construction projects aiming to replace legacy software such as Oracle Primavera P6. More here.
[View open jobs - 4 roles in Software, 2 roles in Product, 3 roles in Sales, 1 role in HR, 1 role in Civil Engineering, 1 role in Support]
Green Materials
Myceen, an Estonian startup, received €2m in grants. They produce carbon storing building materials combining mushroom mycelium and industrial by-products from wood and paper processing industries. More here.
Notes:
The initial applications provided by Myceen are designed for indoor use.
Myceen is also testing more conventional construction material applications, such as building insulation, targeting the energetic renovation market.
The energetic renovation market is expanding requiring sustainable materials to meet climate goals.
Europe aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, with a requirement for all industries to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030.
Additionally, there is a target to renovate 35 million homes by 2030 to meet carbon neutrality objectives.
Despite the need, the adoption of sustainable materials is slow due to:
The perceived risk of using new, untested materials.
The additional cost and different installation processes associated with greener materials.
I’ve been undertaking research into this area, having talked to ~40 investors, corporates and startups to define a pathway for scaling sustainable materials on site.
The initial findings were presented in June and I am now finishing the final stages of writing the playbook.
If you’re interested in learning more and discussing the findings, please reach out!
Related:
Moxy, a Las Vegas startup, raised $11m in Series A funding. They use forest and agricultural scrap to develop siding, roofing and other building materials which are fire-resistant, mold-resistant, termite-resistant, water-stable and 100% recyclable. More here.
Building Decarbonization
Butlr, a Californian startup, raised $38m in Series B funding. They provide an intelligent building platform which understands subtle movements in a space to discern activity, occupancy, indoor location and body posture in an anonymized way to inform investment planning, asset management and energy efficiency decisions. More here.
[View open jobs - 2 roles in Sales, 3 roles in Software, 1 role in Finance, 1 role in Other]
Robots
Swiss-Mile, a Swiss startup, raised $22m in Seed funding. They are developing autonomous robots which are used across industries including construction for tasks such as security patrols, construction monitoring and quality and progress tracking. More here.
[View open jobs - 9 roles in Software, 4 roles in Hardware, 1 role in Product, 1 role in Sales]
Small Modular Reactors
Last Energy, a Washington startup, raised $40m in Series B funding. They develop micro-nuclear power plants which can be built and shipped in 24 months. More here.
[View open jobs - 2 roles in Project Management, 1 role in Finance, 1 role in Product, 13 roles in Other]
Notes:
Last Energy is betting that building modular micro-nuclear reactors will overcome the economic challenges (cost overruns and delays) associated with large scale nuclear reactor projects.
In their own words they ‘don't innovate at all when it comes to the nuclear process or components — we do systems integration and business-model innovation.’
This means they have identified the delivery phase (manufacturing and construction) as the key target for improvement including owning and operating the power plant at the customer’s site (avoiding delays with plugging into the grid by plugging directly into the customer).
In their vision, every large data center or gigafactory would have its own micro-reactor providing clean energy.
With Amazon buying a nuclear data center from Talen and growing demand for energy due to AI and electrification this bet could pay off.
Related:
American Attitudes on Nuclear Energy in 2023
The majority of Americans are in favor of nuclear power.
MEP
Evolve, an Atlanta startup, raised $6m in Growth funding. They are developing a platform for MEP contractors to automate design workflows and facilitate material fabrication. More here.
[View open jobs - 1 role in Sales, 1 role in Marketing, 1 role in Other]
Permitting
Tract, a London startup, raised funding (undisclosed). They are developing a planning engine which identifies potential sites with favorable planning characteristics, determine the type of development which can be carried out on site and simplify the complex process of obtaining planning permissions. More here.
[View open jobs - 2 roles in Software]
Government
Pryzm, a Boston startup, raised $2m in Seed funding. They are developing an AI-powered platform which helps companies with the government contracting process by identifying your company capabilities and surfacing the latest contracts, grants and awards relevant to your context without the need for a keyword based search. More here.
Notes:
The Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have significantly increased the number of government grants and contracts available.
Many companies which are eligible for these do not have the awareness or the resourcing to identify and then coordinate and navigate the application processes.
This software allows for automatic notifications on new contracts / grants and advanced search features to qualify opportunities.
Space
Starpath Robotics, a San Francisco startup, raised $12m in Seed funding. They are developing mining rovers for the moon which are able to extract liquid oxygen from lunar water ice which is used as propellant for spacecraft and refine it in-situ. More here.
[View open jobs - 9 roles in Other]
Notes:
This week on LinkedIn I noted that Bechtel Construction, the largest contractor in the US, has a space division.
The reason is that to enable a space economy we need infrastructure to provide breathable air, water, propulsion systems, and self-sufficient energy solutions.
This will be built by firms with existing experience in the construction of complex megaprojects in remote and harsh environments (similar to the space environment).
Only a small number of Tier 1 firms such as Bechtel have this experience.
Bechtel invested in an asteroid mining startup in 2013 and while the startup ultimately failed, it provided them with insight on the adaptability of their terrestrial construction and mining experience to off-world projects.
As space becomes a large part of the construction and infrastructure conversation, I predict these startups will gain more interest from AEC firms.
Policy and Regulatory Changes
U.S. Awards $1.6 Billion to Texas Instruments to Build Semiconductor Plants
This will help Texas Instruments build 3 new manufacturing plants.
The grant is meant to strengthen the domestic supply of semiconductors.
The department will also award up to $3 billion in loans to Texas Instruments with the company expected to claim federal tax credits that could cover 25 percent of the cost of building and outfitting factories with production equipment.
This will support company's investment of more than $18 billion to construct the new facilities.
China’s ‘hidden debt’ drive controls borrowing for municipal infrastructure projects
China’s finance ministry has banned local governments from raising illegal or non-compliant debt for municipal infrastructure projects that yield no or insufficient returns.
As part of the rules, revenue generated from infrastructure financed by local government special bonds must be prioritized to repay the bonds and cannot be diverted for other uses.
The level of local hidden debt is estimated at between 30 trillion yuan (US$4.2 trillion) and 50 trillion yuan.
China’s gross domestic product was ~126 trillion yuan last year.
This debt has been facing increasing pressure due to a prolonged property downturn which reduced land sales that had been a major source of revenues.
Maine moves one step closer to floating offshore wind
The state of Maine and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management agreed to lease 15 square miles of federal water to build an array of floating offshore wind turbines for research purposes.
They will install 12 floating wind turbines capable of generating 144 megawatts of clean electricity.
This is to help the state evaluate how to balance floating offshore wind with the needs of the fishing industry and natural ocean ecosystems.
State, local building energy codes get makeovers with over $240M from US DOE
The funding is to adopt and implement new and “innovative” building codes that increase energy efficiency.
Many of the selected cities will use the funds to develop and implement building performance standards
Sonoma County Halts Enforcement Of All-Electric Building Code
A federal court ruling prompted Sonoma County to suspend its enforcement of a building code that bans natural gas or propane appliances in most new residential construction.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California Restaurant Association vs. City of Berkeley found earlier this year that the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act preempts state and local regulations that effectively ban natural gas appliances.
The ruling means that Sonoma County’s all-electric reach code, adopted to help the County meet its climate goals, is overridden by the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act, county officials said.
Notes:
Decarbonization regulation has been primarily led bottom up in the US by municipalities adopting electric codes.
This ruling and interpretation is making local cities rethink how they enforce climate goals.
Jurisdictions have worked around this by adopting electric-preferred efficiency standards.
What to know about BERDO, Boston’s building performance standards law
Boston building owners and facility managers are readying for the first compliance period for the city’s Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance.
The building performance standards law is one of 13 in U.S. cities.
30 more cities have committed to passing building performance standards by 2026 or earlier.
Boston’s Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance (BERDO) sets requirements for large existing buildings to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions over time which can be found here.
The emissions standards set by BERDO decrease over time, with all buildings expected to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
DOT calls for wireless vehicle tech on national highways, most intersections by 2037
The aim is for connected communications between vehicles, cyclists, other pedestrians and infrastructure.
The goals include:
Having 40% of intersections nationwide that are V2X enabled before 2032 and 75% by 2037.
Deploying the tech across 20% of national highways by 2029 and 50% before 2032, completing that rollout by 2037.
DOT awards $521M in EV charging grants amid slowing sales growth
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced $521 million in grants to deploy more than 9,200 electric vehicle charging ports and build alternative-fueling infrastructure.
This provides funding to states and territories to establish or increase revolving funds enabling them to issue loans and grants for energy efficiency audits, upgrades, and retrofits to increase energy efficiency and improve the comfort of buildings.
US election policy updates
Harris puts housing at center of economic pitch to US voters
Harris called for building 3 million more housing units in four years, on top of the 1 million or so built annually by the private sector.
This would be through a new tax credit for developers who build homes aimed at first-time homebuyers and a $25,000 tax credit for those buyers.
She also proposed a $40 billion fund to encourage local governments to build more affordable housing, streamlining regulations and expanding rental aid, among other steps.
Notes:
The US is short ~2.9m units.
National Infrastructure Projects & Priorities
China
China Makes $31 Billion Nuclear Push With Record Approvals
11 nuclear reactors were approved across 5 sites.
This is in addition to the 10 units which were approved in each of the last 2 years.
The total investment for all 11 units will be at least 220 billion yuan ($31 billion) with construction taking ~five years.
The country has 56 reactors currently in operation, with a combined capacity that equates to ~5% of total electricity demand.
Notes:
China has more nuclear reactors under construction than any other nation in the world.
The country is expected to surpass France and the US to be the world’s leading atomic power generator by 2030.
Building this higher number of reactors at once allows for economies of scale and can significantly cut costs of development.
For context, the last 2 reactor sites built in the US had an expected cost of $14b.
By the end of the project, total cost was estimated at over $30b due to delays and overruns.
China invests US$6.1 billion in data centre infrastructure amid surge in demand for AI chips
China has invested 43.5 billion yuan (US$6.1 billion) on a nationwide project to build eight computing hubs.
The direct investment from the Chinese government had also incentivised more than 200 billion yuan in additional money from other entities.
The government-backed project aims to build a nationwide information technology network whereby data centers in China’s Western inland would process the computing workload generated in its more densely populated eastern coast areas.
India
Building India: Move Aside, Smart Cities
India’s government approved a $3.4 billion spend to develop 12 “industrial smart cities” located across 10 states and six trade corridors.
Two decades ago, India sought to emulate China’s success in building special economic zones like Shenzhen, but besides boosting software exports the results were underwhelming.
More recently, the Modi government designed a smart cities policy to build 100 modern urban centers, but progress has been slow.
This new policy seeks to combine some features of earlier approaches.
Big Tech
Sage Geosystems and Meta sign 150MW geothermal power agreement
The goal is for the first phase of the project to start generating carbon-free electricity for Meta’s data centers in 2027.
Notes:
Geothermal energy is not new with the largest geothermal power plant complex in the world built on a field of hot springs in Northern California and operating since 1960.
The challenge is geothermal energy has historically been viable in certain locations.
Sage Geosystems is trying to figure out how to access geothermal energy more broadly in a cost-effective and consistent way.
Baltics
Sunly secures €300M to transition to energy independence in the Baltics
Estonian renewable energy producer, Sunly, raised financing to accelerate the construction of 1.3 GW of solar, wind, storage, and hybrid parks across the Baltics and Poland.
They develop integrated hybrid parks that combine wind, solar, and energy storage batteries at a single connection point and direct line to consumers.
This method improves energy production stability in various weather conditions and optimizes cost-efficiency by reducing grid connectivity charges.
Notes:
In the EU including the Baltic states and Poland, Russia’s influence in the energy market is a concern.
The Baltic States are to Disconnect From Russian Electric Grid in Early 2025 to boost regional energy independence and security.
Mexico
Chinese EV Maker BYD Seeks State Incentives for New Mexico Plant Amid US Pressure: Report
BYD is evaluating proposals from three Mexican states for its new plant to serve the Mexican market only, focusing on incentives and infrastructure requirements.
Mexico’s federal government, facing pressure from the U.S., is distancing itself from Chinese automakers by withholding incentives like low-cost public land or tax cuts for EV production.
Investment funds
MKB, a Canadian investment firm, raised $145m for an energy transition fund. This will invest in growth stage companies across clean energy, mobility, industrial decarbonization, and built environment. More here.
Acquisitions
Swiftly, a San Francisco company developing a transit data platform acquired Hopthru, a Seattle company developing a transit data platform for agencies to share real-time passenger information, manage day-to-day operations, and improve service performance. More here.
News
Blue Collar Workers Wanted—1.7 Million New Jobs Projected By 2032
Construction companies struggling to find craft workers
94% of surveyed contractors have openings for craft workers, and 85% have openings for salaried workers. 28% reported having at least 11 unfilled positions since June 30.
54% of contractors reported project delays due to workforce shortages, with about a third experiencing fallen headcounts in various construction subsectors.
Construction Robots Onsite in 2024 (
)India Aims for 40 km of Highway Construction Daily in Two Years
A $2 Trillion Reckoning Looms as Ports Become Pawns in Geopolitics
Ports handle 80% of the world’s $25t in annual trade.
They are undergoing upgrades in digital technology, automation, and green energy, costing an estimated €200b.
Of the world’s 10 biggest container ports, seven are in China and none are in Europe or the Americas
To drive ‘Made in India’, New Delhi is developing a $9b port in Vadhavan, which is needed to compete with China.
Currently, some of the largest container ships have been forced to skip India because none of its existing ports are as deep enough resulting in higher logistical costs.
The Next Challenge for the US Charging Network: Congestion
EV charger congestion needs to be considered.
This can occur during key holiday weekends or big events where drivers congregate in a new location.
Given the density and time with EV charging, there may not be enough capacity during peak events.
The Rise of the Government-Savvy VC (
)A new generation of venture firms are tailored to help companies navigate the regulatory state.
Data centre construction is hitting new heights but capacity fears loom
Lendlease outlines sale terms for US East Coast construction arm
If I missed anything this week, please reply and let me know! I’ll make sure to include it next week.
Re: length of the newsletter, I think you’ve made it really easy to skim, so the length is fine. I appreciate the level of detail on the pieces I stop to read. Thanks for your hard work putting this together!