Construction technology start-up Trunk Tools has secured a $20 million Series A funding round, the company said Aug. 20. The capital outlay was led by Redpoint Ventures with participation from Innovation Endeavors, which had led the AI platform’s seed round. — with a total of $30 million in funding raised to date, the tech company said. Materials technology company Fortera also announced new funding, investing $85 million in its Series C round to increase the deployment of its low-carbon cement production process that integrates with existing plant infrastructure , he pointed out.
The round included participation from previous investors Khosla Ventures and Temasek and first-time investments from Wollemi Capital, NOVA by Saint-Gobain, Presidio Ventures and Alumni Ventures. With operations at one company plant in California, Fortera said it will use the funding to expand production of its ReAct green cement product, which it said uses 70 percent less carbon dioxide per ton than cement traditional
From the tools to the platform
Trunk Tools, an AI-based platform that helps construction activities as varied as providing payment incentives to skilled labor based on a project’s critical path and having AI in a mobile phone that can respond to voice commands and display project documents, shop drawings, documentation. or 3D model information.
Trunk Tools CEO and founder Sarah Buchner said the company is launching a calendar agent, with funding also being used to further refine its platform. The planning agent uses Trunk Tools’ data infrastructure to create a link between scheduled activities and documentation, ensuring projects are completed on time, on budget and on plan, the company says. AI visualizes schedule files, independently monitoring upcoming project tasks to notify users of open tasks, discrepancies, or potential logistical issues.
It also automates the manual process of setting up meetings with owners, team members or others. The AI is capable of searching all project documents to provide up-to-date information. The technology is based on Trunk Tools’ proprietary AI platform, which is already in use in the industry. “Trunk Tools is the platform. It’s the brain,” says Buchner. “It structures the unstructured data, and then on top of that brain … we’re deploying all these agents.”
Erica Brescia, CEO of Redpoint Ventures who co-founded software company Bitnami, has joined the board of Trunk Tools. “Sarah and her team have a deep insight into the industry,” Brescia said, saying the company’s combined industry and AI expertise is “rare in construction and … we were excited much with this deal.”
Redpoint’s expertise and funding will allow Trunk Tools to accelerate products using generative AI in construction, Buchner said. Other investors in Trunk Tools include WND Ventures, the venture arm of contractor DPR; Suffolk Technology; Angels AEC; STO Building Group; Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures; Thornton Tomasetti/TTWiiN and others.
Concrete with more reduced carbon
Fortera has been producing proprietary carbon-reducing cement at a CalPortland plant in Redding, Calif., for more than a year. Fortera’s ReCarb process attaches to existing plants and recarbonates calcium oxide by combining captured CO2 of the emissions. When it dissolves, it reacts with the calcium oxide to permanently mineralize it in the cement. Fortera said his process has reduced CO2 in its material up to 70%.
“Because of the scale of the industry, we won’t have an impact on emissions unless we have an economic pathway to expand globally,” said Ryan Gilliam, CEO and co-founder. “With the launch of our first plant and the closing of this round of financing, we are entering the next phase of our development,” he said, adding that the company remains competitive with traditional cement prices by leveraging raw materials and existing industry processes.
Gilliam said Fortera has MOUs with several cement producers to add their machines to their plants this year.
“Our investment in Fortera aligns with [the] priority towards the decarbonization of industries and our commitment to work with startups that move the world forward with sustainable innovations,” said Basma Kharrat, vice president of external ventures at producer Saint-Gobain.
