start-up construction companies gaining ground

More startup companies are entering the construction business than ever before, accounting for $581 million in new investment last year, according to the business analysis site Crunchbase.

In a report compiled by Crunchbase analyst Mary Ann Azevedo entitled Startups Poised to Disrupt the Construction Industry, such operations are focused “strictly on developing technologies to make construction projects go more smoothly, while increasing productivity and efficiencies.”

That number is dramatically up from just five years ago, when total North American investment came in at $182 million, accounting for an almost unheard-of 318 percent increase during that same period of time.

Crunchbase also records that startup operations have entered every aspect of the building industry, from development and design to actual construction.

The San Francisco-based Crunchbase was founded in 2007 and keeps track of not just new startup companies nationally and internationally, but where their funding and investment is coming from.

That $581 million represents nearly 150 individual deals, a number that has also increased from less than 50 in 2013 to just over 125 in 2015.

The startups, usually smaller than typical construction companies and often focused on delivering a single service, are additionally expected to enjoy continued growth for the rest of 2018 and beyond.

The only cloud in the sky for such new operations could be a slowdown or decline in the national construction industry. “But as construction companies continue to boom,” notes Azevedo, “the need for startups to help increase efficiency and productivity should continue to grow as well.”

By Garry Boulard