BuiltWorlds

02/13/2025

A key component of BuiltWorlds' Conference and Summit content is our Breakout Sessions, designed for intimate, in-depth conversations on hyper-focused topics.

Last week's AI/ML Conference included four Breakout Sessions led by an expert (or experts) on the given topic.

💡 Datagrid AI CEO Thiago Da Costa introduced attendees to the fundamentals and potential of agentic AI, exploring practical applications of the tech for both back-office and field teams.

💡In a joint Breakout Session on strong data foundations, Versatile Co-Founder and Executive Chairwoman Meirav Oren alongside EllisDon Corporation VP of Insights and Analytics Ezequiel Machabanski led a group conversation prioritizing, structuring and ultimately leveraging data organization-wide.

💡Krane Advisor Charlie Dunn dug into the intersection of AI and building materials, discussing how the technology can bolster supply chain management.

💡SpawGlass VP of IT Keefe Andrews talked about the increasing necessity of cybersecurity. Keefe engaged the group about the challenges and strategies for protecting sensitive data while ensuring compliance with data governance standards.

We can't thank these insiders and experts enough for lending us and our audience their expertise and experience.

Join us for a Breakout Session at one of our upcoming events! Learn more: https://builtworlds.com/conferences-events/

02/13/2025

Tariq Taherbhai, chief commercial officer for construction and infrastructure for Aon, specializes in one of the construction industry's chief concerns: risk.

When it comes to construction and infrastructure, Tariq sees the key risk areas as scale, safety, and what he describes as the "four big mega trends": trade, technology, weather, and workforce.

He describes widespread concerns surrounding unpredictable geopolitics, advanced technology (which he categorizes as both a "risk mitigant" as well as a "risk accelerant, particularly as it relates to cyber risk"), and a changing climate, referencing the devastating fires in California.

These are the challenges for which Aon is helping its clients prepare. How are they helping?

Watch the full interview: https://builtworlds.com/videos/contech-talks-tariq-taherbhai-chief-commercial-officer-aon/

02/12/2025

At last year's annual CEO Forum, addressing a room of some of the biggest names in construction from around the world, University of Chicago Booth School of Business Executive Education Economics Professor Chad Syverson reminded our small, tight-knit audience that our industry has a serious productivity problem.

Speaking to data presented in his recently published report on the subject, Syverson broke down the problem that, as he illustrated, had been growing since the 70s. He linked construction's declining productivity to two factors: declining skills, antiquated equipment and technology, and increasing fragmentation and specialization.

Learn more: https://builtworlds.com/news/constructions-poor-productivity-costs-u-s-economy-2-8-trillion-per-year-according-university-chicago-economist/

We share this story both as a reminder of a persisting problem in the industry as well as a look into the kind of harsh but necessary conversations we have at our annual CEO Forum.

If you'd like to join those conversations, learn more: https://builtworlds.com/event/industry-ceo-forum-annual-meeting-copy/

02/11/2025

📣Announcing the winner of our AI/ML Conference Demo Day: CONELABS!📣

In the early portions of CEO Albert Mansour's pitch during the demo day, he presented some pretty compelling stats:
🚧 40% of infrastructure is fair or worse condition
🚧 80% of structures are over 20 years old
🚧 We experience seven structural failures each day.

Then, he offered a solution to help improve those numbers.

ConeLabs is an engineering-grade inspection platform that promises efficiency without sacrificing accuracy, allowing companies to catch more errors with less work. Leveraging proprietary 3D imaging and AI technology, Albert, who co-founded the company alongside CTO Ahmed Mahmoud, pitched a vision to "cut inspection time and costs by more than 50%."

It's an ambitious goal, but one Albert and his team consider attainable. Do you? Our judges—Cameron Spek (CRH Ventures), Mayra Soto (Building Venture), Scott Kaplanis (GroundBreak Ventures), Mike Mahan (Stanley Ventures), Ross Bosn (UFP Ventures), and Zachary Birky (Caterpillar Ventures)—were certainly convinced of the platform's potential.

Watch Albert's full pitch and decide for yourself: https://builtworlds.com/videos/2025-ai-ml-conference-demo-day-winner-conelabs/

Let us know in the comments what you think of ConeLabs's technology and what it will take to improve our aging infrastructure!

02/10/2025

It's no secret that construction is one of the most dangerous professions out there. Our industry had 1,075 fatalities in 2023, the highest number since 2011, according in the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is a number we hope to help reduce.

While technology is not the end-all, be-all of creating a safe jobsite, is a road to a much safer jobsite and work environment at a large. In acknowledging that opportunity to better protect our workforce, we've asked experts Gabe Guetta (SALUS), Bret Bush, ARM, CRIS (Insight Risk Technologies), Abel Luna, CSHO (Zachry Construction Corporation), and Ty Findley (Ironspring Ventures) to join us for our upcoming Future Workforce Conference in March to discuss how contractors can reinforce safety and security through technology and culture. They'll specifically touch on task and document automation, security and risk analysis, approaches to psychological safety, and more.

If you're interested in learning more, join us March 5-6 in Austin: https://builtworlds.com/event/2025-future-workforce-conference/

Follow us for more updates on upcoming events and how you can get involved!

02/10/2025

Do you believe culture is a key component of effectively embracing, identifying and leveraging innovation?

That's one of many questions workforce professionals Chris Young (Texas Department of Transportation), Calvin Benchimol (Crewscope), Dr. Sumesh Arora (Entergy), and Nancy Michieli (Nancy Michieli Coaching) will tackle at the upcoming Future Workforce Conference in Austin, as they explore the interplay of culture, technology, and business performance, and how businesses can best find their optimal balance.

Learn more or register: https://builtworlds.com/event/2025-future-workforce-conference/

02/07/2025

The second annual AI/ML Conference is officially a wrap! A huge thanks to everyone that was able to make it out, especially our engaged members, insightful presenters, and generous sponsors (Document Crunch, SmartPM Technologies, Inc., Trunk Tools, and Krane)!

Over the last two days, we learned, we connected, and we had fun. It'll be hard to top this next year, but we're certainly going to do our best. Hope to see you there!

Follow us for more updates on upcoming events and how you can get involved!

02/06/2025

Huge thanks to Sean Young, NVIDIA Director of AECO, Geospatial and AI Solutions Industry Marketing, who kicked off day two of the AI/ML Conference with an inspiring keynote to an absolutely packed crowd!

BuiltWorlds members can be on the lookout for Sean's full keynote breaking down the fundamental concepts of AI that make the technology so promising for the buildings and infrastructure industries, which will soon be available at BuiltWorlds.com.

Stay tuned for more updates from the 2025 AI/ML Conference!

02/06/2025

Day one of the 2025 AI/ML Conference ended with one of what have come to be our highly anticipated Demo Day Competitions. Seven impressive innovators took the stage to pitch their AEC industry startups to our panel of expert judges (seen in the picture below).

Many of the solutions demoed integrate AI to improve and automate myriad tasks, including structural analysis, engineering, scheduling, architecture, and more.

Stayed tuned for more updates from the 2025 AI/ML Conference, including the announcement of our Demo Day Winner!

02/06/2025

Did you know that 18% of all work globally is exposed to AI-driven automation?

In the second half of our AI/ML Preparedness Forum yesterday, Yeji Data Lab Founder and CEO David Lederhendler covered what it takes for contractors to truly harness the complicated potential of artificial intelligence, also revealing that machine learning models have already identified $1 billion-plus in cost savings and optimization improving efficiency by 18%.

David's presentation was the perfect precursor to our Demo Day Competition, which featured a number of AI-powered technologies.

Stay tuned for more updates from the 2025 AI/ML Conference!

02/05/2025

The second annual AI/ML Conference is off to a strong start!

DPR Construction AI/ML and Data Science Leader Hrishi Maha kicked off our closed-door AI/ML Preparedness Forum Meeting with a deep dive into his work with the technology. We learned where DPR is finding success with artificial intelligence and, just as importantly, where it's finding challenges. The room was held in quite captivation until it was time for questions, when there were no shortage of hands in the air.

Excited for the second half of our Forum, featuring guest speaker David Lederhendler, founder and CEO of Yeji Data Lab. We invite all AI/ML Preparedness Forum Members to join us!

Our non-closed door content will begin at 4pm, leading into our Demo Day Competition!

02/05/2025

📣 Weekly Deal Tracker 📈

This week's biggest and most recent deals in the AEC space include:

🤝 Smart Wires Inc., a global grid-enhancing technologies provider based in Durham, North Carolina, recently raised $65 million in growth capital. The company develops solutions to help electric utilities unlock capacity and solve critical grid issues, creating a more flexible, reliable, and affordable grid. Investors include BP Energy Partners and Keystone Group.

🤝 Stratus, the Larkspur, Colorado-based platform for MEP contractors, has secured $32 million in a Series B funding round led by Radian Capital. Stratus specializes in optimizing fabrication workflows by integrating with design tools like Autodesk Revit and Autodesk AutoCAD, aiming to enhance efficiency and reduce errors in construction projects.

🤝 Oxyle, the Zurich, Switzerland-based company providing wastewater treatment technology, has raised $16 million in funding led by 360 Capital, with participation from Axeleo Capital (AXC) and returning investors Founderful and SOSV.

Subscribe to our Venture & Finance Newsletter to keep up to date with all of the biggest deals in the AEC space: https://tinyurl.com/4fcn9z5j

02/04/2025

The 2025 AI/ML Conference kicks off this week, and we couldn't be more excited for the lineup! Find a quick reference guide to our main-stage content (1pm-5pm) below.

Learn more about the event's details and full agenda: https://builtworlds.com/event/2025-ai-ml-conference/

Follow us for more updates on our Conferences and Summits and how you can get involved!

SmartPM Technologies, Inc., Skanska USA, EllisDon Corporation, Henderson Engineers, McCownGordon Construction, AMC Bridge, Inc., Trunk Tools, Suffolk Construction, Windover Construction, ARCO/Murray, VIATechnik, SpawGlass, Haskell, Boston Dynamics, Hilti

02/03/2025

There were some big moves in the AEC M&A space last year, with four in particular making our list of the industry's 50 biggest, publicly-reported venture deals and investments. Those include:

1. CoStar's $1.6 billion acquisition of Matterport
2. Nemetschek Group's $700 million acquisition of GoCanvas
3. Sumeru Equity Partners $330 million investment into JobNimbus, making it the majority owner of the roofing industry SaaS provider
4. Hexagon AB's $95.6 million acquisition of Itus Digital

Learn more about these deals and more in our Top 50 Venture & Investment Deals list: https://builtworlds.com/insights/2024-top-50-venture-investments-deals/

01/31/2025

In a recent contributed article, Green Badger CEO Tommy Linstroth laments on the industry's slow response to construction's impact on the environment.

"Unfortunately," he writes, "despite the growing awareness of the sector's climate impact, measurable change has occurred at a glacial pace."

Our industry contributes an estimated 40% of the world's CO2 emissions annually. Whether we want to change is quickly becoming irrelevant. Very soon, we will need to.

Acknowledging our industry's growing need to accept and curtail our environmental impact, Linstroth offers five solutions to reduce construction waste.

With C02 emissions from the construction industry hovering around 40% of all annual emissions, sustainable building and construction is paramount to an eco-friendly future. Tommy Linstroth, Founder and CEO of Green Badger, offers five solutions to common construction waste management challenges.

01/30/2025

We're excited to announce the Top 50 Venture & Investment deals of 2024!

As part of our ongoing coverage of the venture and investments activity in the building and infrastructure construction spaces, we've released our list of the top 50 publicly disclosed deals from last year, including VC funding rounds, fund launches, and tech company M&As.

While the full list can be found here (https://builtworlds.com/insights/2024-top-50-venture-investments-deals/) we've included the top 5 deals per category below.

Construction Tech: Applied Intuition's raise of $250 million as part of its Series E round in March

Building Tech: Scala Data Centers' raise of $550 million as part of its Venture round in October

Infrastructure Tech: X-energy's raise of $500 million as part of its Series C round in October

Tech M&A: CoStar's $1.6 billion acquisition of Matterport in April

VC/CVC Fund Launches: DCVC's $700 million launch of Climate Fund I

Learn more details about the above deals as well as all those by visiting our official Top 50 Venture & Investment Deal list: https://lnkd.in/g5kgtkNq

Other deals include...

Construction Tech Deals
GrayMatter Robotics, Higharc, Intenseye, Prewave, Neustark, osapiens, Fingercheck, Path Robotics, instagrid, HammerTech

Building Tech Deals
Twelve, The Carbon Transformation Company, 1KOMMA5GRAD, Guesty, Aira, Gropyus, Stonal, Watershed, Fortera, Redaptive, Sublime Systems, Magnus Metal

Infrastructure Tech Deals
NineDot Energy, Ascend Elements, Fervo Energy, Nscale, Electra, SunFire Matrix, Tokamak Energy, Form Energy, FLO EV Charging, Antora Energy, ICEYE

VC/CVC Fund Launches
SC Net Zero Ventures, AlleyCorp, Prudence, Ironspring Ventures, World Fund, Zacua Ventures, Moderne Ventures, Blackhorn Ventures, Foundamental, Innovation Endeavors, Era Ventures

Tech M&As
GoCanvas, Nemetschek Group, JobNimbus, Sumeru Equity Partners, ITUS DIGITAL, Hexagon AB

Did we miss a deal? Let us know in the comments below!

01/29/2025

As Turf Advisory Founder and Managing Partner Lisa Diaz explains in her recent one-on-one interview with BuiltWorlds, after 35 years working on Wall Street, including 23 years as a managing director at Goldman Sachs, she was in search of the next chapter in her career. Then, she missed a train at Grand Central Station in New York City.

“There’s always these tourists doing tours of Grand Central, and I kind of decided to go along,” she recounted. “And I learned two very important pieces (of information) which changed the course of my life professionally.”

First, she learned that First Lady Jackie Onassis was first instrumental in saving Grand Central Station. Second, she learned of the famous constellation mural painted on the building's ceiling; and how after decades of pollution, conversations took on the task of restoring the work the art, leaving behind a small, uncleaned rectangle as a testament to just how dirty the ceiling had once been.

“I always loved Grand Central and I was very intrigued by these stories, especially the army of construction workers who restored the station,” she added. “So I sat on the train going home and did some research. By the time I reached my station, I had decided that the next chapter in my career would be construction.”

In her interview, Lisa shares more about not only how she found her way into construction and ultimately founded Turf Advisory , a business development advisory firm focused on smart cities, infrastructure and raising capital, but about what makes for good innovation, how she approaches identifying startup options for investment and business development, and her advice for startups trying to promote their products and attract customers.

Read the full interview: https://builtworlds.com/news/innovation-built-world-maintenance-and-infrastructure-a-qa-with-turf-advisory-founder-and-managing-partner-lisa-diaz/
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Want to hear more from Lisa? Join us in San Francisco this April for Venture West, where she'll be speak on rebuilding our aging infrastructure with technology and private capital: https://builtworlds.com/event/2025-venture-west-conference/
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01/29/2025

Formwork Labs has officially announced its 2025 cohort!

The accelerator, built in partnership between BuiltWorlds and Brick & Mortar Ventures, has named five early-stage, AEC industry startups to take part in its three-month program, complete with expert-led educational sessions, connection to industry veteran mentors, the opportunity to pitch to investors and professionals, and more.

The startups named as part of the 2025 cohort include:

• Provizual — Provizual is designed to improve the quality control and inspection process in construction.
• Freeda — Freeda is an AI-powered platform that helps brick-and-mortar businesses (i.e., retail, restaurants, hotels and more) accelerate their construction and renovation projects.
• Sonar Labs — Sonar Labs builds earthwork material management software for construction teams.
• Building Diagnostic Robotics — Building Diagnostic Robotics (BDR) is a NYC-based deep tech startup revolutionizing commercial roof inspections through AI and robotics.
• Enji.Tech — Enji Tech brings together a team of construction and AI engineers to revolutionize design processes by developing Multi-Agent AI Systems.

Learn more about the program and all the 2025 cohort companies:

Formwork Labs, an accelerator for early-stage, AEC industry startups established through a partnership between BuiltWorlds and Brick & Mortars Ventures, has officially announced its 2025 cohort. The group includes Provizual, Freeda, Sonar Labs, Building Diagnostic Robotics, and Enji Tech.