A few years back, the construction industry was one of the most lacking sectors in terms of innovation and adoption of technology. With time, entrepreneurs across the globe are increasingly eyeing the construction industry as a market of opportunity. It is estimated that the construction tech market is worth €2 trillion now.
Understanding the impact of digital transformation in the industry, numerous companies have mushroomed across categories such as security and sustainability, supply chain management, the productivity of construction projects, and new materials and construction methods. Consequently, here is a list of UK contech startups that deserve your attention in 2021.
MachineMax
Founder/s: Shweta Saxena, Amit Rai
A sustainable and innovative materials and construction methods company, MachineMax is a heavy equipment platform that helps off-highway companies to maximise the productivity and profitability of every machine in their fleet.
The London construction tech company was acquired by Shell in June this year, thereby becoming its sole owner. MachineMax will continue to operate as a standalone organisation and will get benefits from being within Shell’s newly formed Sectors & Decarbonisation business.
myConsole
Founder/s: Eric Sandor, Philip Collard
Based out of London, myConsole is a workflow productivity software for the construction industry. It helps businesses save time and increase win rates in the bidding processes. Also, the company offers consulting services to businesses in the construction industry.
Cloud Cycle
Founder/s: Phillip White
Construction tech company in London, Cloud Cycle, is a cloud-based, real-time ready mix concrete management platform. It tracks slump, volume and surplus. It provides a water-resistant sensor-enabled cloud box to track fleets and a cloud-based dashboard for live information from trucks, routes, plants or sites. Being a sustainable contech company, Cloud Cycle aims to save industry billions while reducing global CO2 by 1%.
Modulous
Founder/s: Chris Bone, Chris Mortensen, Markus Cosmann, Reimell Ragnauth, Romill Bettany
Funding: £5M
Modulous that has its roots in London is an artificial intelligence enabled platform that develops digital solutions to modernise the design and construction of affordable and sustainable housing. It facilitates high-speed design and delivery of high quality, sustainable and affordable homes.
In June this year, Blackhorn Ventures, CEMEX Ventures and GroundBreak Ventures invested £5 million into Modulous. The funding will be used to expand the company’s building design team and grow its technology group to speed up the evolution of its software platform.
Qualis Flow
Founder/s: Brittany Harris, Jade Cohen
Funding: £2.5M
A construction tech company that uses an AI-based platform for measuring construction environmental risks, Qualis Flow, helps contractors and major projects manage their social and environmental impact. Qflow, a machine learning powered tool automates tracking of materials and waste on construction sites, provides real-time alerts to engineering teams so they can manage quality and sustainability, and gives transparency to investors and developers.
Recently, the company bagged a $2.4 million investment from Green Angel Syndicate. The funds will help to scale Qflow and build a more sustainable future.
Kreo Software
Founder/s: Magomed Galaev
A SaaS solution for the modular construction market, Kreo Software allows businesses to find the optimal design-cost trade-off at the feasibility stage. It offers a suite of AI-powered design and construction software solutions for project owners, contractors and consultants. It enables design and optimise residential and commercial building projects, evaluate their feasibility and estimate their cost in a few hours.
Converge
Founder/s: Gideon Farrell, Raphael Scheps
London-based construction tech company Converge builds the next generation of wireless sensor networks for the industrial internet of things. It does this by augmenting existing sensors to help large industries replace manual monitoring with automated, continuous data collection and analytics. The company helps improve productivity and sustainability for the entire construction lifecycle by combining the power of AI, BIM and physical sensor data.
Carbon Clean
Founder/s: Aniruddha Sharma, Prateek Bumb
Funding: £45M
Carbon Clean with its headquarters in London is a leader in low-cost CO2 capture technology. Its breakthrough technology significantly reduces the operating costs and environmental impacts, thereby making it cost effective. The company also operates in India, Spain, and the United States.
Back in July this year, Carbon Clean raised $8 million from new investor CEMEX and existing investors Equinor Ventures, ICOS Capital, and WAVE Equity Partners. The capital raise extends Carbon Clean’s successful $22 million Series B investment round announced in July 2020, bringing the total value of the round to $30 million.
Hypervine
Founder/s: Paul Duddy
Glasgow-based Hypervine has developed a tool to track people, materials, machines and carbon emissions on construction and mining sites. It helps companies save time, increase profits and reduce waste. The company uses AI and blockchain to streamline construction and mining workflows. By partnering with the ESA, it will offer satellite imagery to mining companies to efficiently mine a site, and minimise environmental damage.
The post UK contech startups reinventing construction with productivity revolution appeared first on UKTN (UK Tech News).
