Last Week in ConTech - 9 October 2023
Why is it so hard to build in America?
ConTech Roundup - Startup funding & news and acquisitions that was important this week in Construction Technology. No fluff. No hype.
Last Week in ConTech - 9 October 2023
Startup Funding
Buildings
Ekolution, a Swedish startup, raised €12.6m in funding. They create hemp-based insulation for buildings. More here.
Metergrid, a German startup, raised €2.7m in seed funding. They are building a platform to help landlords and small real estate firms adopt renewable energy. More here.
Knaq, a New York startup, raised $320k in funding. They provide a real time equipment monitoring platform for vertical transit providers (elevators, walkways, escalators etc).
Purpose Green, a German startup, raised $3.5 in funding. They are building a platform to simplify the building decarbonization process for asset managers and property managers. More here.
Geotech
GeologicalAI, a Canadian startup, raised $10m in extended Series A funding. They are building a digital rock analytics platform. More here.
Construction
AI Clearing, a Texas startup, raised $14m in Series A funding. They have created an AI powered autonomous construction progress tracking and quality platform. More here.
Kraaft, a Paris startup, raised €3.2m in seed funding. They have built a messaging application for construction. More here.
Decarbonization
Qube Technologies, a Canadian startup, raised Series B funding (amount unknown). They provide a continuous emissions monitoring system which detects and identifies gas leaks. More here.
Materials
Concretene, a British startup, received £1.25m in grant funding. They are developing a graphene enhanced admixture for concrete that reduces embodied carbon. More here.
Other
Metropolis, a LA startup, raised $1.7b in Series C funding ($650m in loans) and acquired SP Plus, a provider of parking facility management service. They use AI and machine vision to automate tracking and payment of vehicles in parking lots. More here.
Previsico, a UK startup, raised $2.4m in funding. They provide early prediction of and real time flood alerts. More here.
New Funds & Acquisitions
Alpaca VC raised $78m for its third fund. They invest in real estate and built world startups. More here.
Amada Materials acquired Volunteer materials, a Tennessee based producer of aggregates, asphalt, and ready-mix concrete and provider of road paving and striping services. More here.
Hilti, a construction tool company, acquired 4PS group, a business process management solution for the construction industry. More here.
Bain Capital is considering selling its 49% stake in US LBM, a building materials group. More here.
News
Brian Potter (Construction Physics) spoke with Derek Thompson (The Atlantic) on why it’s so expensive to building stuff in America.
“At a very high level, it’s basically a case of we’ve steadily made it more and more difficult to build things in the U.S. with rules and regulations, and have not had commensurate technology and productivity increases that have been able to offset that.”
The 15-Minute City Conspiracy Theory Goes Mainstream (Wired)
NY state concrete emission limits to take effect January 2025 are a US first
The Evolution of Tunnel Boring Machines (Construction Physics)
If I missed anything this week, please reply and let me know! I’ll make sure to include it next week