This audio is automatically generated. Please let us know if you have any comments.
Dive brief:
- A group of contech and venture capital companies led by Cemex Ventures, the investment arm of Madrid-based Cemex, has chose the eight finalists for the 2024 Construction Initiation Competition, according to an Oct. 22 press release.
- The companies were selected from an international cohort of applicants in four categories: green construction, improved productivity, construction supply chain and the future of construction.
- To top off the competition, companies will compete for cash prizes and gold, silver and bronze positions at tech giant Trimble’s Dimensions user conference on November 12.
Diving knowledge:
This year’s iteration of the competition received applications from more than 70 countries, according to the release. Since its creation in 2017, more than 3,000 companies have applied to be part of the competition.
Hosting the competition alongside Cemex Ventures are Trimble, equipment maker Caterpillar, Dysruptek, Haskell’s contech venture unit and contech investment firm Zacua Ventures, among other companies.
“This competition offers a privileged opportunity to drive innovation in the Contech ecosystem by supporting leading entrepreneurs, encouraging investments, pilots and accelerating their innovative solutions, just like those of the eight winning startups”, Mateo Zimmermann González, manager of Cemex Ventures investments. he told Construction Dive via email.
The finalists of the competition are:
- GScan (Estonia): This startup uses cosmic rays to look inside critical infrastructure like bridges, tunnels, buildings and nuclear reactors. It is the only technology capable of seeing more than 40 centimeters (15.7 inches) into concrete or steel, according to the company.
- Rich AI (USA): The platform reduces supply chain risks and minimizes delays in project execution, according to the company. Its proprietary model learns from project data and incorporates progress updates from trades and suppliers to provide a more realistic view of when materials will arrive at the workplace.
- power (France): The company says its solution helps reconcile field and office teams, which often struggle to communicate. They start with simple chats and build up with modules focused on construction so that the data is structured semi-automatically.
- Interesting (Austria): The company’s software enables customers to develop carbon dioxide-efficient concrete by digitally simulating the mixing process, speeding up the development cycle by up to 10 times. This enables them to achieve 5-7% higher margins, Mixterest claims, through more efficient and innovative concrete mixes and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 20% through performance-based optimization.
- Raise Robotics (USA): This San Francisco-based startup specializes in advanced robotic systems for jobs. Its current approach is to deploy robots that handle the installation and inspection of facade supports on buildings, the company says, helping human workers avoid the compromising position of hanging over the edge of a building.
- Revitalize (Austria): The company reduces waste in the construction industry by combining valuable materials from demolition and decommissioning projects with demand for secondary materials from building materials manufacturers through a proprietary solution, according to the company.
- Sodex Innovations (Austria): This device-oriented solution improves construction surveying by installing hardware such as laser scanners, global navigation satellite system units and cameras directly on construction equipment. This allows machines to deliver digital twins of construction sites to a cloud solution in real time, according to the firm.
- Trunk Tools (USA): New York City-based Trunk Tools has developed an artificial intelligence platform to organize unstructured data, automate workflows and increase worker productivity. Their tool, TrunkText, identifies data discrepancies to track programming errors. Providence, Rhode Island-based Gilbane Building Co. used the company’s technology in the $456 million Baird Center expansion project in Milwaukee.
