Dive Brief:
- After narrowing down hundreds of submissions from burgeoning contech firms, the Construction Startup Competition has selected 2025 finalists for its top awards, according to an Oct. 22 announcement from Cemex. The construction material manufacturer’s venture capital arm, Cemex Ventures, helps organize the annual event.
- Eight startups will pitch their products to compete for top-three placement and cash prizes at the Trimble Dimensions conference in Las Vegas on Nov. 10-12.
- Another five will compete at a new European Pitch Day at Recotech, a construction technology conference in Helsinki on Nov. 17-19, for one top prize.
Dive Insight:
The competition, which is in its ninth year and stands out as perhaps the best known contech competition in the industry, received 563 applications from over 54 countries, marking the second-highest participation in the contest’s history, according to the news release.
Over the years, the competition’s organizers have noticed a growing number of high-quality applications from Europe, Miguel Carralón, investment advisor at Cemex Ventures, told Construction Dive via email.
“Partnering with Recotech allows us to connect more directly with the European innovation ecosystem, engage with local startups, investors, and corporates, and give the finalists a platform in one of the most dynamic regions for construction technology,” Carralón said.
Finalists this year fell into three categories:
Green Construction
- Alithic (U.S.): Manufactures a carbon-negative cement replacement product.
- Kapture (Australia): Offers a carbon-capture retrofit system for existing diesel generators.
Enhanced Productivity
- Ailytics (Singapore): Uses artificial intelligence and existing cameras for safety data and project tracking.
- AItenders (France): Leverages AI for tender documents and compliance tracking.
- BuildCheck AI (U.S.): Uses AI plan review to prevent RFIs, change orders and city comments for builders.
- Enlaye (U.S.): Offers an AI-based risk mitigation platform for builders, developers and building owners, while promising data security.
- IRIDESENSE (France): A LiDAR system that detects the presence of rocks, water or contaminants in the soil on project sites.
Future of Construction
- All3 (U.K.): Uses robotics and AI to create custom designs that can be built with standardized, mass production techniques to save on costs.
- Birdsview (Norway): The firm bills itself as X-ray vision for concrete to save builders time and money.
- Gravis Robotics (Switzerland): Develops a retrofit kit to turn heavy equipment into autonomous machines.
- Hyperion Robotics (Finland): Leverages 3D printing and localized microfactories to build concrete infrastructure.
- Navlive (U.K.): Scans a site with an AI-powered LiDAR camera to generate floor plans and 3D models.
- Taiyō.AI (U.S.): The firm’s ConstructChat platform is an AI tool for construction and engineering that surfaces everything from building costs to current project status just by asking questions.
The Construction Startup Competition’s organizers include Cemex Ventures, Trimble, equipment manufacturer Caterpillar, Haskell’s venture arm Dysruptek, Saint-Gobain’s venture arm NOVA, Ferrovial, Hilti, the VINCI Group’s Leonard platform and investment firm Zacua Ventures.
Attending the Trimble Dimensions Pitch Day are AItenders, Alithic, Buildcheck AI, Enlaye, IRIDESENSE, Gravis Robotics, Hyperion Robotics and Taiyō.AI. Attending Recotech are Ailytics, All3, Birdsview, Kapture and Navlive.
