The application phase of Construction Startup Competition 2024 wrapped up a few weeks ago, and this year’s turnout has been through the roof, significantly higher than the last two editions. This fact shows that high-potential entrepreneurs are stepping up like never before to revolutionize the construction industry and bring their solutions to the main stage.
Are you curious about what types of startups have applied? The applications we received are making over the construction industry from pain-points to disruptive solutions.
Keep scrolling for an in-depth breakdown of the applications from this year’s biggest startup competition!
Table of contents
Application Breakdown
By Country
Construction Startup Competition has reached every corner of the world. Startups from over 70 countries applied this year, with the United States (27%) leading the ranking—it’s also the country with the highest Contech investment in 2022, 2023, and H1 2024—followed by the United Kingdom (8%). Here are the 10 countries we received the most applications from:
By Focus Area
Efficiency-focused technologies have taken center stage in 2024. Enhanced Productivity solutions that improve stakeholders’ collaboration, communication, and coordination and promote data-driven decisions to maximize efficiency and quality have undoubtedly been the main stars, accounting for 38.3% of applications. Closely following were sustainable innovations in the Green Construction focus area, making up 28.4%.
Each Focus Area encompasses a wide range of solutions: Green Construction (carbon tools & calculators, circular construction & waste management, etc.), Enhanced Productivity (geotechnical analysis, project tendering, BIM, etc.), Construction Supply Chain (fleet management, workforce management, last-mile platforms, etc.), & Future of Construction (3D printing, robotics, smart buildings, etc.). Among all these solutions, the ones that stood out due to the large volume of submissions were:
- Enhanced Productivity: Project Monitoring & Control
- Green Construction: Sustainable Materials
- Future of Construction: Industrialized & Automatized Construction
- Construction Supply Chain: Marketplaces
Think about how each of these solutions solve a particular pain-point in the construction industry. Startups, what pain-point does your solution attempt to fix? Or Heads of Companies, what solution could your company implement to reduce costs and time, and maximize sustainability?
By Foundation Year
In this edition, the highest number of applications came from early-stage startups (0-2 years) and more established ones (5+ years). The average age of startup applicants is around 3 years.
A variable closely related to the foundation year of the startup is the development stage of its solution. The years of experience of the startup provide a framework to understand the solution’s current development stage and evolution. Most solutions in the competition’s application phase are in the early commercialization stage (29%), followed closely by the piloting stage (28%).
The early commercialization stage for startups involves executing their go-to-market (GTM) strategy. This strategy is a comprehensive plan that businesses use to bring a new product or service to market. It’s a critical moment when startups move toward the commercialization of their technology. The piloting phase focuses on testing the solution in different markets before its full market launch.
Startups in the idea-to-be-developed phase have the lowest participation rate. Securing funding and support at this point is more complicated because it relies on more risk from investors. While a strong concept is essential, investors, corporations, and other key stakeholders tend to look for proven results & milestones.
By Project Type
Construction managers usually group projects by their “end use” to make sure they fit community needs, and that’s one of the approaches we’ve used to categorize the competition’s solutions in the application form.
Each application received focuses on a different project type, with a big spotlight on commercial (27%) and industrial projects (23%).
By Funding Raised
Fun fact: In 2004, Facebook, as a young company, secured its first major external investment thanks to Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal. Thiel invested US$500K in the social network, representing 10.2% of the company.
As you can see, not all startups that later became large companies started with early fundraising in the millions. In 2024, most of the competition’s participating startups (with significant potential to discover) raised less than US$100K or between US$100K & US$500K since their founding.
By Target Customer
Let’s get to the point: who are these disruptive solutions from the startups aimed at? First, it’s crucial to understand that the target customer is the person most likely to buy the company’s products or services. This is the startup’s customer.
You can define a target customer by different characteristics, such as age, unique spending habits, and a specific income level. When developing a solution as an entrepreneur, it’s crucial to define this role to understand the target customer’s pain points and design technology to address them.
The target customers for a significant portion of the applying startups, defined by profession, have been main contractors (38%) and owners (22%)—two very influential decision-makers in the sector.
To get a clearer picture of these target customers, let’s briefly define them:
- The main contractor is the company (or individual) hired to manage and complete a construction project. They are responsible for coordinating & supervising the work to ensure it meets the client’s specifications.
- The owner is who starts and funds the construction project. That person is the one who hires the main contractor and is ultimately responsible for the project’s success. The owner defines the project’s requirements and oversees its progress; however, it doesn’t manage the day-to-day construction activities.
What’s next?
The investment experts from the 9 corporate partners – Cemex Ventures, Caterpillar, Dysruptek by Haskell, Ferrovial, Hilti, VINCI Group’s Leonard, NOVA by Saint-Gobain, Trimble, and Zacua Ventures – are currently evaluating each application in detail to select the finalists.
Greg Matthews, Senior Director of Strategy at Caterpillar, shared his honest thoughts with us about his experience partnering in the competition: “Caterpillar is excited to participate in Construction Startup Competition. We’ve encouraged innovation throughout our nearly 100-year history. We look forward to seeing the participants’ pioneering solutions that will continue to take the construction industry to the next level.”
The next big step is the winners’ announcement in late October, & to wrap up, Pitch Day will take place on November 11. Pitch Day is the final milestone of the competition, where the finalists will have the chance to present their solutions to a jury of industry investors & potential new clients. It will be held at the Trimble Dimensions User Conference in Las Vegas.
Whether you’ve applied or not, we don’t want you to miss any updates about what’s coming up in Construction Startup Competition. You can find all the latest news on our social media channels (LinkedIn & X), blog, and of course, in our Contech Tacos Newsletter:
