2024 is 75% complete! Q3 has wrapped up, and we’ve got good news…
Investment in Contech & Cleantech hit record highs during 2024’s summer months, with technologies focused on efficiency leading the way. Here are some insights from Cemex Ventures’ investment team, who have gathered the most impactful highlights of the year.
Keep scrolling to check out the latest insights hot off the press!
Table of contents
Q3 2024 Summary
From July to September, investments totaled US$734 million over 85 deals. Comparing Q3 to Q2 (2024), the overall number of US$ invested increased significantly by 32%, while the number of deals increased by 8%.
- Total investment: $734M
- Total number of deals: 85
Taking a big-picture view of the year so far, both the amount of investment & the number of deals reached in this Q3 have surpassed the figures from Q1 & Q2, making it the strongest investment period in 2024.
Investment by Focus Area
Once again, technologies focused on sustainability & productivity improvement are receiving the most attention in Q3, continuing the trend of 2024. The breakdown by investment amount in Q3 2024 across Cemex Ventures’ four market-driven opportunity areas was:
- Green Construction: 26%
- Construction Supply Chain: 6%
- Enhanced Productivity: 50%
- Construction’s Future: 18%
In terms of the amount of money invested (%), Enhanced Productivity (50%) emerged as the dominant Focus Area, covering geotechnical analysis, project tendering, BIM (Building Information Modeling) & digital twins, payments & finance tools, and other solutions that enhanced construction’s efficiency.
Following closely behind was investment in Green Construction (26%), which includes sustainable materials, Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage (CCUS) solutions, alternative fuels, and machinery electrification, among others.
Compared to Q2, there’s a notable shift. In the previous quarter, the Focus Area with the highest % of investment was Green Construction, followed by Enhanced Productivity. In Q3, these verticals have switched places, with Enhanced Productivity solutions leading the list, experiencing a 67% increase in investment vs Q2.
Investment by Region
The majority of Contech & Cleantech investments in Q3 were concentrated in North America, continuing a trend observed since last year and into the first two quarters of 2024, with an increase of 13% compared to Q2, followed by Europe.
Following is the breakdown by investment amount in Q3 2024 across various regions:
- North America: 62%
- Europe: 24%
- Asia & Oceania: 12%
- Middle East: 2%
- Latam: 0%
- Africa: 0%
Below is the investment breakdown comparison by region for Q2 & Q3 2024:
Top Deals
In Q3
Every month, our investment team tracks and compiles the top deals in Contech & Cleantech. Here are our top deals for Q3 2024:
- Thumbtack raised $75M in new debt financing: In July, the home improvement app Thumbtack received US$75M in new debt financing. The funding will help Thumbtack access new capital and liquidity. Read more!
- HammerTech secured $70M in growth funding: In July, HammerTech, a Melbourne, Australia- and Menlo Park, CA-based construction safety software company, raised US$70M in Growth funding. Read more!
- HERO Software closed €40M in Series B funding round: In July, HERO Software SaaS platform for trade SMEs in the DACH region, closed a €40M Series B financing round. Read more!
- Vantem raised $30M in Series C funding round: In July, Vantem Global is raising a US$30M Series C to vastly expand production of energy-efficient modular homes. Read more!
- GreenLite secured $28.5M in Series A funding round: In September, GreenLite, a construction technology company making permitting faster and more predictable for builders, developers, & municipalities, announced its Series A raise of US$28.5M. Read more!
- Remi closed $21M in Series A funding round: In August, Remi, a tech startup focused on streamlining the roofing process for homeowners and contractors, raised US$21M in a Series A funding round. Read more!
- Trunk Tools raised $20M in Series A funding round: In August, Trunk Tools, a NYC-based provider of an AI Platform for the construction industry, raised US$20M in Series A funding. Read more!
- Buildots secured $15M in funding round: In July, the Israeli startup’s platform provides a performance-driven approach that measures individual tasks, increasing overall efficiency, and lessening costs, while reducing delays by up to 50%. Read more!
- Fortera closed $85M in Series C funding round: To meet the growing demand to lower the cement industry’s carbon emissions, in August, the advanced materials manufacturer Fortera secured US$85M in Series C funding. Read more!
- Alcemy raised $10M in funding round: In July, cement & concrete decarbonisation startup Alcemy raised a US$10M funding scale its cement decarbonisation solution. Read more!
Check out the Q2 & H1 industry insights in case you missed them!
Key conclusions from our Investment Experts
Closing out Q3, these are our key takeaways:
- Up to now in 2024, investments have totaled US$1.918M across 226 deals.
- Record quarter in 2024 with 85 deals and +US$734M raised. We are still far from 2023 figures, but we see that many startups are preparing for fundraising.
- Without the last quarter of the year, we have already registered the same number of deals as in 2023, showing growing interest from investors in Contech.
- Regarding deals, Q3 has counted with the largest number of the year so far. We have also seen significant deals with the participation of strategic investors & 9 acquisitions closed.
Whether you are a startup, SME, corporate, building professional, media journalist, or just want to find out more, we encourage you to contact us through our website or follow us on LinkedIn & X.
You can also keep up to date with the newest Contech deals and news by subscribing to our biweekly Contech Tacos newsletter!
