For as large as it is, Europe’s construction industry is still a slow build. The sector has lagged behind in innovation for some time, and it’s still highly fragmented across different players in a project’s life. With operational profitability hovering around 5% for Europe’s giants, there’s little room for error when experimenting with new tech.
Startups packed with technical talent are trying to change that. According to Sifted data, €390m has been deployed this year across 62 construction tech rounds as of October 16 — placing it around the middle of Europe’s sectoral funding for the year.
36% of all funding came from a single company, Vienna-based Gropyus, which raised a €40m debt round in March from the European Investment Bank, followed by a €100m equity round from Practical Venture Capital and Semapa Next earlier this month. Construction software company HERO — which featured in our Sifted 50: Germany Leaderboard — also secured €40m in a Series B round led by Eight Roads Ventures in July.
56 of the 62 deals have come at early-stage (up to and including Series A) with an average cheque size of €4m. France-based alternative cement startup Materrup’s €26m round is the largest early-stage deal to date, led by the European Innovation Council.
Relevant resources:
Here are the six early-stage startups that told Sifted that they’re currently fundraising:
1/ Concrete4Change
Location: Nottingham, United Kingdom
Founded: 2021
Total funding: €6m
Last round: €3m seed in May 2023
Investors: Goldbeck, Siam Cement Group, Sustainable Venture, SDGX, Zacua Ventures, Counteract
Fundraising: Targeting a €30m Series A round in Q4 2025
Concrete4Change is developing carbon sequestration technology for alternative concrete. Its production strategy outputs permanent CO2 mineralisation to help achieve net zero.
2/ Contilio
Location: London, United Kingdom
Founded: 2020
Total funding: €4.5m
Last round: €1.2m seed in November 2023
Investors: Pi Labs, Deeptech Labs, Think+ Ventures and Cur8 Capital
Fundraising: Targeting a €8m Series A by Q1 2025
Contilio is building an AI-based 3D analytics platform for construction projects. The company joined Tech Nation’s Applied AI programme in 2020.
3/ FenX
Location: Turgi, Switzerland
Founded: 2019
Total funding: €5m
Last round: €2.2m seed in May 2021
Fundraising: Targeting a €7m Series A round in Q1 2025
FenX produces mineral, nonflammable insulation panels through mineral form technology, which enables the reuse of mineral waste.
4/ ReMatter
Location: Zug, Switzerland
Founded: 2022
Total funding: €1.8m
Last round: €400k grant in October 2024
Investors: SI Tech4Impact, Venture Kick, W. A. de Vigier, Migros Pionierfonds, Nico Ros, Johannes Senn, Buildify.Earth and Swiss Climate Foundation
Fundraising: Targeting a €3.3m seed round in Q4 2024
Founded by three Stanford University alumni, ReMatter is a scrap metal recycling and pricing platform. It offers a host of services including inventory management, reporting, accounting and dispatch solutions.
5/ Preoptima
Location: Cambridge, United Kingdom
Founded: 2022
Total funding: €1.5m
Last round: €1.1m pre-seed in March 2023
Investors: Nemetschek, Nomea Investments, Climate VC and Carbon13
Fundraising: Targeting a €3m seed round.
With two PhDs in its founding team, Preoptima is developing software to manage the life carbon impact of buildings. It currently offers two separate products — CONCEPT and PACER — for industry professionals and local authorities respectively.
6/ buildbuild
Location: Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Founded: 2021
Total funding: €2.8m
Last round: €1.1m pre-seed in June 2023
Investors: LVL Group and angel investors
Fundraising: Targeting a €2m seed round in Q4 2024
buildbuild is a project management software for construction-focused applications. Key offerings include material ordering, workforce management, task tracking and pricing estimates.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/construction-tech-startup-raise/
