Last Week in ConTech - 7 August 2023
Construction labor shortages & Urban Heat Islands
ConTech Roundup - Construction technology startup funding, news and acquisitions this week. No fluff. No hype.
Last Week in ConTech - 7 August 2023
Startup Funding
Decarbonization
Carbon Upcycling Technologies, a Calgary startup, raised a $26m Series A round. Their solution claims to reduce the amount of cement in concrete production by 50%. More here.
Ecoworks, a Berlin startup, raised a €22m Series A round. They renovate buildings to reduce their CO2 emissions. More here.
Design
Transcend, a US startup, has raised $20m in Series B funding with Autodesk investing. They have created generative design software to rapidly generate preliminary engineering designs for critical infrastructure. More here.
Acelab, a New York startup, raised $5.3m in funding. They have built a searchable product database for architects and builders. More here.
Materials
Adaptavate, a British startup, raised a £2M round. They are a green construction materials developer. More here.
Plotlogic, an Australian startup, raised a $28m Series B round. Their solution scans terrain using LiDAR and hyperspectral imaging technology with advanced machine learning algorithms for autonomous material characterisation in mining. More here.
Construction
Source, an Oregon startup, raised a $8.5m Series A round. They are building a B2B marketplace for commercial construction projects. More here.
Ply, a New York startup, has raised $4m in funding. They are a building materials procurement platform for contractors.
Infrastructure
Niricson, a Canadian startup, raised a $7.5m Series A round. They assist with asset management by providing infrastructure condition assessments and risk management. More here.
Location
Local Logic, a Canadian startup, raised a $13m Series B round with Shadow Ventures investing. They are a location intelligence provider providing information and insights to real estate investors and governments. More here.
Water
Divirod, a Colorado startup, raised a $3.6m bridge funding round with GHD Ventures investing. They provide real time flood management and water risk analytics using proprietary sensors. More here.
Electrification
Bidgely, a Californian startup, raised $18m in growth financing. They are building an AI based energy platform to help utilities better anticipate grid loads. More here.
Voltpost, a New York startup, raised $3.6m in seed funding. They are building a solution to turn lamp posts into EV charging stations. More here.
Other
Topline Pro, New York startup, raised a $12m Series A round. They use generative AI to help general contractors or landscapers build an online presence (websites, social media, marketing). More here.
New Funds
The Danish government is raising $800m to invest in waste management and waste handling technologies. More here.
News
Urban Heat Islands are becoming a self-reinforcing issue (Foundamental)
These are urban areas that experience significantly higher temperatures than their surrounding rural regions.
On One Texas River, Four Dam Failures Show Harsh Reality of Aging Infrastructure (WSJ)
The construction industry in America is facing an extreme labor shortage, roughly 650,000 workers. More here. (CNBC)
EU passes law to blanket highways with fast EV chargers by end of 2025
The chargers must be placed every 60km (37mi) and allow ad-hoc payment by card or contactless device without subscriptions.
The worst US bridges are getting fixed (Construction Physics)
JLL GPT brings conversation-based generative AI to commercial facilities managers
MIT engineers developed a new type of concrete that can store energy
If I missed anything this week, please reply and let me know! I’ll make sure to include it next week.