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Venture funding in the contech space is in a strange place right now.
While the construction technology industry has seen its fair share of recent struggles, that hasn’t stopped some companies from succeeding. Funding in space was reduced $5.4 billion in 2022 to $3 billion in 2023 — a 44% decrease, while the number of global deals increased, benefiting companies still looking to raise funds from their own rounds.
Here are five companies that got funding in the first two months of 2023:
AllowFlow
31 million dollars
PermitFlow unique permit aggregation software raised $31 million in a Series A round The funding round was announced on February 21. The round was led by Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins.
PermitFlow aims to take the complexity out of permit applications across the country. Instead of fighting with municipalities to get the right forms, PermitFlow helps both residential and commercial builders identify what they need, submits them through local digital permitting platforms on their behalf, and provides a team of experts to help contractors with questions
The company’s largest footprints are in California, Texas and Florida, by TechCrunch, but operates throughout the country. He is currently working on adding large language models, which are generative AI products along the same lines as ChatGPT, throughout his software that will help users figure out “obscure” code requirements.
Monumental
25 million dollars
Robotics company based in Amsterdam Monumental secured $25 million in funding, according to a statement of February 15. The round was led by venture funding firms Plural and Hummingbird, and was joined by Northzone, Foundamental, NP-Hard Ventures and Material Ventures.
Monumental creates brick-and-mortar robots that can freely traverse difficult terrain on job sites. The company believes they will ultimately help builders address labor shortages and rising costs, the statement said.
The funding will help Monumental grow its team of hardware and software engineers, increase the number of robots it can deploy at sites across Europe, and increase the types of bricks and construction tasks the robots can handle, according to the statement
shepherd
13.5 million dollars
San Francisco-based commercial insurance platform Shepherd raised a $13.5 million Series A funding round, the company announced on February 7. The round was led by Costanoa Ventures along with Intact Ventures, Era Ventures, Greenlight Re and Spark Capital.
Shepherd’s goal is to combine commercial insurance with technology, according to the release. The company covers the three main lines of claims for the commercial construction industry: general liability, commercial auto and workers’ compensation.
In addition, the insurer offers an AI-based compliance tool that is free for all policyholders. The program tracks and manages third-party insurance certificates and keeps owners up-to-date on what is needed and what these documents cover.
The company says the AI component extracts data from PDFs, which can be tedious to perform manually, and automates compliance reviews. Its platform integrates with other project management systems, including Procore.
Document Crunch
9 million dollars
Atlanta-based contract intelligence firm Document Crunch raised a $9 million Series A funding round, the company announced on February 13. The round was led by Navitas Capital and was joined by existing investors Zacua Ventures, Fifth Wall, Argonautic Ventures and Ironspring Ventures.
Document Crunch uses artificial intelligence to query contracts for risk provisions and helps teams standardize their own contract reviews, according to its website. It also offers a contract-based chatbot for users to ask questions about the document and get quick and accurate answers, according to the company.
The company will deploy the funding to scale its products, grow its team and develop more contract fulfillment solutions.
Construction material
1.6 million dollars
Buildstock materials marketplace based in New York City raised $1.6 million in pre-funding from Precursor, MGV, XFactor, RefashionD and other investors, according to a February 22 press release.
Buildstock targets two industry pain points: procurement of materials and late payments. The platform offers AI-powered product discovery and claims that products on the market are discounted by up to 40%. It also provides contractors with a window into delivery times and tracking information, allowing builders to plan supply deliveries.
For suppliers, the company claims it shortens payment cycles from up to 90 days to just five days after delivery.
With the funding, Buildstock will scale, expand its technology integrations, artificial intelligence and third-party logistics, and bring more market participants.
