Last Week in ConTech - 26 February 2024
Renewable energy systems for construction sites
In this issue there are:
20 Startup Fundings
7 Policy and Regulatory Changes
1 New investment funds
4 Acquisitions
12 News articles
Reading time: 12 mins
Startup Funding
Building Electrification
Evercloak, a Canadian startup, raised $2m in seed funding. They are creating ultra thin nanofilms for dehumidification (HVAC technology) which reduce the amount of electricity required to dehumidify air and can be used in buildings and industrial processes. More here.
Notes:
Dehumidifying air is the most energy intensive part of cooling.
Materials
Buildstock, a New York startup, raised $1.6m in pre-seed funding. They are creating a construction materials marketplace focusing on the high-rise segment and provide buyers with pre-approved lines of credit and better payment terms and suppliers with increased volumes and payment timelines. More here.
Water
Conservation Labs, a Pittsburgh startup, raised $7.5m in Series A funding. They have developed a smart water monitor which uses sound to detect water usage and leaks in plumbing systems providing remote visibility of properties. More here.
[Hiring - 1 role in Software]
Information Management
Didimi, a London startup, raised €880k in Pre-Seed funding. They provide a digital twin and information management platform for construction which allows engineers and designers from all disciplines to exchange models of any format and view and edit their model using any design software (regardless of which tool was used to create the model). More here.
[Hiring - 3 roles in Software]
Geotechnical
MeduSoil, a Swiss startup, raised €5.5m in post seed funding. They develop biomineral based binder products to use in construction and geo-environmental works (such as foundation or slope stabilization) reducing reliance on chemically synthesized or mined binders in construction materials such as cement or petrochemicals which have a lasting effect on natural reserves and groundwater quality. More here.
Policy
Climate Policy Radar, a London startup, raised $6.8m in funding. They use data science and AI to track climate change policies and laws on a global scale. More here.
[Hiring - 1 role in Design]
Notes:
This software is useful for contractors and consultants to understand the changing regulatory environment and where investments and grant funding will be provided.
This is as a part of climate policy is focused on the electrification of society.
This electrification (energy) transition is an infrastructure transition and represents a significant opportunity for industry incumbents to build expertise based on local policies e.g. retrofitting building HVAC systems to reduce carbon emissions.
They can then identify where similar policies are being implemented across the nation and expand their presence in the region by leveraging their existing capabilities as a competitive advantage.
This is as given the speed and necessity for decarbonization, states will likely adopt (copy) policies which have been effective elsewhere (this has been noticeable with the adoption of electrification building codes across municipalities in California).
Permit/Rebate Applications
PermitFlow, a Californian startup, raised $31m in Series A funding. They streamline the construction permitting process handling everything from upfront research, application, permit preparation, submission, monitoring, comment response and coordination to permit issuance. More here.
[Hiring - 1 role in Design, 1 role in Product, 2 roles in Software, 2 roles in HR, 2 roles in Operations, 3 roles in Marketing, 1 role in Finance, 5 roles in Sales]
Eli Technologies, a Philadelphia startup, raised $6.8m in seed funding. They streamline the process of finding and applying for energy-related rebates, tax credits, and financing for home electrification projects. More here.
[Hiring - 1 role in Software, 2 roles in Operations]
Rock Rabbit, a Californian startup, raised $3.1m in seed funding. They streamline the process of applying for incentives for heat pumps and can be used by homeowners, contractors or incentive providers such as a state agency. More here (paywall).
Alternative site energy systems
Antora Energy, a Californian startup, raised $150m in Series B funding. They develop thermal batteries which store renewable electricity as heat in solid carbon blocks with the aim of making renewable energy more accessible for industrial use. More here.
Notes:
Antora Energy develops modular thermal batteries which can be road-shipped for simple installation on industrial sites.
When cheap renewable electricity is available, the thermal battery uses it to heat carbon blocks to glowing hot temperatures in an insulated module.
This stored heat can be reliably delivered at scale and temperatures for large industrial operations (or can be output as electricity using their thermophotovoltaic technology).
They have found traction in the steel and cement industries (e.g. heat a limestone kiln to make cement) as the technology compensates for the intermittent nature of renewable energy. At full capacity, continuous heat can be delivered at over 1,000° Celsius — for 16 to 18 hours.
In the future, this technology could be used to assist with the electrification of construction sites by providing easy to install batteries as a source of consistent renewable energy.
Sage Geosystems, a Texan startup, raised $17m in Series A funding. They make geothermal energy and geothermal energy storage systems. More here.
Notes:
The energy grid is transitioning towards renewable energy sources and is more decentralized ie. local battery storage and rooftop solar vs centralized power plants.
A rising trend is for critical infrastructure (large factories, military bases, data centers and cement plants) to have localized energy producing assets.
A common energy solution is SMR (Small Modular Nuclear Reactors) with legislative changes supporting this trend as described in this issue.
An alternative is geothermal energy. The technology is progressing and is no longer limited to volcanic regions or places with deep drilling to harvest heat.
Related:
Geosophy has built a tool to analyze building sites to determine their geothermal energy potential.
US Invests $60 Million to Expand Clean, Renewable Geothermal Energy
Grid Infrastructure
Camus Energy, a San Francisco startup, raised $10m in Series A extension funding. They help utilities integrate renewable energy generation by providing ‘grid orchestration’ software. More here.
[Hiring - 1 role in Sales, 2 roles in Support]
Notes:
The US has ~3000 electric utilities (168 investor owned, 812 cooperatives, 1958 municipally-owned).
Only 12% of utilities have implemented a Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS).
28% have implementation in progress.
35% are approved or under consideration.
Deploying 80-160 gigawatts of virtual power plants (VPPs) by 2030 could save $10b in annual grid costs.
VPPs could save U.S. utilities $15 to $35 billion in capacity investment over 10 years.
Related:
See last issue (under Grid Infrastructure) for a breakdown of Virtual Power Plants.
Illumine Industries, an Indian startup, raised ~$2m in Series A funding. They are building a technology enabled sustainable power and construction system engineering company with a focus on designing low voltage power points offering structural and electrical engineering expertise. More here.
[Hiring - 2 roles in Software, 15 roles in Other]
Splight, a Chilean startup, raised $2m in funding. They are developing a platform for the electricity sector to optimize the management of distributed energy assets by collating existing data and they provide digital twins for asset owners for predictive maintenance. More here.
Digital Twins
Neara, an Australian startup, raised $29.3m in funding. They are building a digital twin and infrastructure modelling platform which creates 3D network wide models for simulations and analytics to assess risks such as wildfires and flooding without having to perform manual surveys. More here.
[Hiring - 5 roles in Support, 2 roles in Operations, 6 roles in Software, 1 role in Marketing]
3D Modeling
Threedy, a German startup, raised €9.6m in Series A funding. They develop spatial computing technology enabling customer 3D data to be accessible in real time on any device including providing digital engineering, advanced collaboration, and seamless Mixed Reality features. They help customers establish modern software architecture and are currently focusing on the industrial segment. More here.
[Hiring - 1 role in Product, 2 roles in Sales, 9 roles in Software, 1 role in Finance]
Modular Homes
HOMErs, a Ukrainian startup, raised €500k in funding. They manufacture modular homes using galvanized steel which increases the lifespan when compared to wood or plastic. More here.
Diamond Builders, a US startup, received investment (undisclosed). They manufacture prefabricated modular buildings to serve government and commercial markets including education, industrial, military and healthcare. More here.
Other
Silencio, a Munich startup, raised $1m in pre-seed funding. They provide a decentralized data coverage solution to collect noise pollution and create a large noise level data bank. More here.
[Hiring - 1 role in Software, 1 role in Marketing]
Fastned, a Dutch startup, raised €24m debt funding. They build and operate fast charging infrastructure for electric vehicles across Europe. More here.
[Hiring - 2 roles in Sales, 6 roles in Operations, 3 roles in HR, 1 roles in Support, 1 role in Software, 3 roles in Other]
Regulatory and Policy Changes
The funding is available for projects by cities, towns, counties, tribal governments and metropolitan planning organizations which improve road safety.
The funds will help in the development of road safety action plans and improve unsafe road corridors by implementing effective interventions.
Biden-Harris Administration Announces Nearly $1 Billion in Grants to improve Airports
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is awarding $970 million to 114 airports across the country.
The investment is to modernize aging infrastructure, increase gate capacity and update baggage systems and security checkpoints.
Many of the grants contain an element that will build new or expanded terminal facilities.
The funding is from the Airport Terminal Program.
BC Builds launches to deliver affordable housing projects
The Canadian province of British Columbia has launched a new initiative that leverages government, community and non-profit owned and underused land to build affordable housing projects.
The program is supported by $2 billion in low-cost financing and a commitment of $950 million for the overall program.
All BC Builds units have a target of middle-income households spending no more than approximately 30% of their income on rent.
New bill could force Colorado cities to allow density near transit lines
A proposed new bill HB24-1313 would allow more apartments and condos to be built near rail lines and high-frequency bus routes.
The measure would force local governments to rezone areas near transit.
The state would analyze cities, determining where they have current or future transit lines and how much developable property is within a half-mile of rail lines and a quarter-mile of high frequency bus lines.
Each city would have to allow an average of 40 units per acre across all of its transit-adjacent areas.
ASHRAE, Noresco developing building decarbonization guide
The technical guide will help owners and operators of buildings cut emissions.
This is a pressing need as many cities are requiring performance based carbon emission reductions.
The guide will assist owners and operators in creating plans for decarbonization programs and will cover building electrical loads, HVAC systems, distributed energy generation and hot water systems.
European Commissions approves €6.9 billion state aid for H2 infrastructure
The funding was approved for 33 hydrogen infrastructure related projects in seven EU countries.
The renewable hydrogen supply chain in Europe is in a nascent phase and the funding will provide the initial building blocks of an integrated and open renewable hydrogen network.
Related:
US DOE To Invest $100M In Advanced Carbon Removal Projects
The Department of Energy (DOE) will provide funding to support the carbon dioxide removal industry.
The funding is aimed at making early stage technology commercially viable.
Investment will be made in projects which not only remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere but also store and/or utilize it.
New Funds
Rock Yard Ventures, a pre-seed and seed fund investing across core industries such as construction, real estate, supply chain, manufacturing, and engineering has announced the first close of their fund. More here.
Acquisitions
Seven Group Holdings, an Australian investor, is seeking to acquire Boral, a construction materials company for ~$1.2b. More here.
Nuview, a mapping startup, acquired Astraea, an analytics platform which uses satellite imagery to support construction monitoring, assist with site origination and risk mitigation. More here.
Saint-Gobain, a French building materials company, is seeking to acquire CSR, an Australian building products company for $2.8b. More here.
Levine Leichtman Capital Partners acquired USA Water, a Texas water and wastewater operator. More here.
News
Los Angeles Just Proved How Spongy a City Can Be
Traditional urban planning dogma has been to use gutters, sewers and other water infrastructure to funnel rainwater out of a city to prevent flooding during rain events.
This dogma has shown to have flaws due to recent flooding events.
In response, LA has been transforming into a ‘sponge city’ replacing impermeable surfaces (concrete) with permeable ones (dirt/plants - green spaces).
The city's “sponge” infrastructure helped gather 8.6 billion gallons of water this month—enough to sustain over 100,000 households for a year.
Why we invested in Document Crunch (Navitas Capital)
KP Reddy (Founder of Shadow Ventures) rules for founders
First $1m in recurring revenue should be executed by founders. Do not hire sales or marketing people to figure out PMF and natural marketing and sales motion.
Do not have dedicated functional roles til $5m in revenue. People need to be experts at their function but be able to fill in on other roles.
Intensely focus on becoming an expert at the problem.
This Boston Billionaire Is Building An Army Of Robot Construction Workers (Forbes, paywall)
John Fish created New England’s largest general contractor, Suffolk, on the backs of laborers. Now he’s betting the future is filled with hardwired hard hats and AI foremen.
The RFI Process: Why it Matters, and How To Do It (
)Requests for Information allow contractors to ask owners, construction managers, designers, or engineers about any aspects of the contract documents that aren't clear.
Unblock Mass Timber By Incentivizing Up-To-Date Building Codes
The building material is not widely adopted because old building codes treat it like traditional lumber.
The 2021 International Building Code (IBC) addressed this issue, significantly updating mass timber allowances such as increasing height limits.
But mass timber use is still broadly limited because state and local building codes usually don’t update automatically.
The adoption of mass timber could be sped through grants that incentivize state and local governments to adopt the latest IBC codes.
Deere's Wirtgen wins $12.9 mln from Caterpillar in road-construction patent trial (Reuters)
The jury found that Caterpillar's road-milling machines, which remove the surfaces of roads before repaving them, infringe five Wirtgen patents.
Seattle to add electric buses that use wireless charging
“On-route wireless charging offers many advantages including easier electricity provisioning, no extra real estate, use of lower-cost renewable energy for charging and smaller batteries that need no replacement or recycling.”
How Parking Reform Is Helping Transform American Cities (Yale)
What technology trends are shaping the mobility sector? (McKinsey)
How grid operators can integrate the coming wave of renewable energy (McKinsey)
Three geoengineering projects seek to alter the chemistry of the atmosphere and the ocean (WSJ)
Why the housing industry is blocking the push for more energy efficient homes (Washington Post)
If I missed anything this week, please reply and let me know! I’ll make sure to include it next week.