This year, the lead up to Pitch Day 2022 left us on the edge of our seats, wondering which of the extraordinary Construction Startup Competition 2022 winners would take home the gold medal in their category. Bigger and better than previous editions, thousands of investors, thought leaders, startups, and representatives from SMEs and industry leading corporations came together on November 7 – 9 to take part in Groundbreak, the leading construction technology conference.
We hosted Pitch Day on the final day of Groundbreak to bring the conference’s attendees together to watch the 2022 winners pitch their revolutionary business models. New business models and technologies were a hot topic this year more than ever as economic downturns increase the need for enhanced productivity and better profits, and geopolitical conflicts pose an undeniable threat to global supply chains. Together with looming climate goals and the urgency for “greener” and new construction technologies, the industry is looking forward and Contech startups are in view!
If you weren’t able to attend this year’s Pitch Day, watch the event live, or if you simply want a recap of the program and the winning startup’s solutions, keep reading!
Pitch Day 2022
The game
To accomplish the sixth annual Construction Startup Competition’s objective, “Building a Boundless New World,” we brought together the world’s leading Contech startups together in one place, challenged them, and connected them to the industry’s leading corporate players. But the participation of hundreds of international startups revealed some interesting trends in our industry that we thought were worth sharing with you.
In 2022, most startup solutions were related to enhancing productivity in the construction value chain, followed solutions improving the Competition’s three other focus areas: Green Construction, Construction’s Future is Now, and Construction Supply Chain, respectively. See below the breakdown of applications according to each focus area:
- 37% – Enhanced Productivity: These are solutions that seek to increase efficiency and productivity to improve stakeholders’ collaboration, communication, and coordination throughout a connected and monitored construction value chain.
- 23% – Greener Construction: Startups that play a key role in the transition to a Low-Carbon Economy by decarbonizing the built environment, mitigating its carbon footprint, and promoting circular economy by giving a new life to used and demolished materials fall under this focus area.
- 21% – Construction’s Future is Now: These solutions aim to build a better planet with robotics and machine assisted applications, advanced building materials and industrialized construction methodologies to boost productivity, enforce radical efficiency and make the future of construction a reality today.
- 19% – Construction Supply Chain: Involves helping key industry actors to get the right resources to the right place at the right time for a more efficient construction ecosystem. These startups drive the construction industry by optimizing resource sourcing, material and fleet tracking and inventory management.
But let’s take a deeper look at the players (Contech startups) behind these solutions. 60% of the applications we received were from startups in Europe and North America, however, we also saw a lot of mature and promising solutions from startups in Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. Notable countries with a strong representation of Contech startups included the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Germany, Spain, France, Canada, Chile, Colombia, India, Israel, Australia and Singapore. We are excited to continue receiving applications from startups in these regions in next year’s edition, but also look forward to the internationalization of the competition as we get bigger every year. Who knows from where we’ll see the strongest Contech solutions in 2023!
Don’t forget these Contech startup players when you see their national teams playing in the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ starting this week! Here you can see the breakdown of applications by geographical region:
- Europe – 32%
- North America – 28%
- Latin America – 16%
- APAC – 14%
- Middle East – 6%
- Africa – 5%
If you’re interested in reading more of the industry specific insights that the Construction Startup Competition 2022 revealed, we invite you to take a look at our blog, The World Cup of ConTech: “Expect Amazing”.
The pitches
After announcing this year’s Competition winners on October 26, 2022, the eight victorious startups quickly prepared their pitches and flew in from around the world in order to be able to compete for the gold medal in each of their categories: Green Construction, Enhanced Productivity, Construction Supply Chain, and Construction’s Future is Now.
Each startup was selected because of its solution with the potential to revolutionize and innovate the construction industry, but let’s take a closer look at each value proposition and the representatives battling it out for 1st place:
GREEN CONSTRUCTION
- 2050 Materials (United Kingdom) represented by Co-founder & CEO, Phanos Hadjikyriakou. 2050 Materials is a platform to find, compare, and specify sustainable building products to save time and money at any project stage.
- Carbon Limit (United States) represented by founder, Tim Sperry. Carbon Limit’s carbon negative cement technology reduces the carbon footprint of concrete & turns it into a CO2 sponge.
ENHANCED PRODUCTIVITY
- Constru (Israel) represented by Co-founder and CEO, Michael Sasson. Constru has created an AI-powered construction solution that turns captured imagery into insights for better data-driven decision making.
- Exodigo (United States) represented by Bret Simon, Business Development Manager. Exodigo’s Cutting-edge sensors and AI technology identifies utilities and other underground entities accurately without the need to dig.
CONSTRUCTION SUPPLY CHAIN
- Cathago (Germany) represented by Co-founder, Phillipp Dressler. Its Purchase2Pay platform connects the procurement department, construction site, and external suppliers – from requisition over invoice verification to payment.
- Soil Connect (United States) represented by Founder and CEO, Cliff Fetner. Soil Connect is a Dirt & Aggregates Marketplace that connects those who have soil and aggregates with those who need it.
FUTURE OF CONSTRUCTION IS NOW
- Automatic Construction (United States) represented by CEO, Alex Bell. Automatic Construction creates cast in place concrete buildings at 1/5th the cost using pre-fab inflatable concrete formwork.
- Loris (United States) represented by Co-founder and CEO, Mike Filippakis. Loris offers portable, battery-powered light towers to instantly deliver safety, security, WiFi, and transparency to job sites.
The gold medalists
After an intense period of evaluation and voting from the judges, the gold medalists were announced as: CARBON LIMIT, EXODIGO, SOIL CONNECT, and AUTOMATIC CONSTRUCTION.
Take a look at some of our favorite memories from Pitch Day 2022 and see the startup winners and gold medalists:
Here’s what the Construction Startup Competition 2022 winners and gold medalists had to say:
The jury
Each entrepreneur presented a 4-minute pitch, which was followed by a brief Q&A section from the jury. This year’s jury consisted of the Competition’s partners, made up of the following members:
- CEMEX Ventures: Gonzalo Galindo, Managing Director
- Black & Veatch: Ilya Tabakh, Innovation Manager
- Dysruptek by Haskell: Cutler Knupp, Managing Director
- Ferrovial: Ciro Acedo, Open Innovation Manager
- GS Futures: Aaron Topston, Innovation Manager
- Hilti: Johannes Paefgen, Technology Office Director
- VINCI Group’s Leonard: Louis Cottin, CATALYST Program Manager
- NOVA by Saint-Gobain: Nicholas Deraney, Venture Analyst
- Procore Technologies, Inc.: Riggs Kubiak, Entrepreneur In Residence (EIR)
- Zacua Ventures: Mauricio Weiss, Founding Partner
What’s next?
This event would not be possible without the hundreds of Contech startups that apply to the Construction Startup Competition every year, and who believe in themselves and their solutions to disrupt the construction industry. Keep applying! Every year the solutions we receive are more and more mature and promising and we owe this to the increased competition with each new edition.
We look forward to seeing the Construction Startup Competition 2022 winners and gold medalists flourish and act as role models and/or mentors to up-and-coming Contech startups entering the sector. We know this is only the beginning of the story between our winners and CEMEX Ventures.
Working with industry leaders and experts in the sector who are committed to its future has helped us to establish the Construction Startup Competition as the biggest startup competition in the construction industry. Corporate partners like Black & Veatch, Dysruptek by Haskell, Ferrovial, GS Futures, Hilti, VINCI Group’s Leonard, NOVA by Saint-Gobain, Procore Technologies, Inc., and Zacua Ventures prove that collaboration across all levels and stakeholders is integral within our flourishing industry.
As we close this year’s competition, it’s our pleasure to announce that we’re already gearing up for Construction Startup Competition 2023. Start taking guesses where Pitch Day 2023 will be located! Next year’s edition may be different than this year’s, but we promise a Competition that’s even better than the last, so stay in touch with us this winter because you won’t want to miss out on what we have in store!
