UK-based construction technology company Dispers, which offers an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform to help project managers track work and capture data from building sites, has raised $16 million in funding.
In the year Founded in London in 2015, Dispers has effectively created a digital version of the entire construction site, including visual snapshots of the work progress, to help all stakeholders – regardless of where they are based – keep track of things. For this, a person working on the site (for example, a project manager) is equipped with a standard 360° camera and walks every time, and the resulting image is fed directly into the Disperse platform, which processes the image and uses computer vision techniques to recognize it. what’s happening.
For example, this helps to show the status of a project over a period of time, and it helps to resolve disputes in terms of determining whether a task is complete. It also automatically flags potential problems or bottlenecks when they can be resolved.
Dispersed in practice
More broadly, Dispers integrates drawings, plans, construction schedules, and all other elements that go into a construction project to help managers digitally control everything, reduce risk, and ensure everyone is on the same page.
Efficiency
While the trillion-dollar construction industry often gets a bad rap for its inefficiencies, Felix Neufeld, founder and CEO of Dispers, says it has nothing to do with attitude, but more to do with the lack of access to needle-shifting digital technology.
“I really consider this perception or construct to be ‘delayed’,” Neufeld told TechCrunch. “After years of working on projects and with companies in Europe and America, we can emphatically say that there is no perception problem – but there is a serious technology problem. Many construction companies and teams are willing to offer new solutions despite false promises from technology companies and end up with the burden of using technology instead of added value. .
Indeed, Neufeld cited technologies including workflow, robotics and BIM (building information modeling) tools as examples of companies investing in the next hot thing but ultimately going nowhere.
“We see many of the technologies on the web are rapidly either completely abandoned or become ‘zombie software,’ meaning that the startup technology is still active but has been kept alive for cognitive or contractual obligations without fulfilling its functional purpose,” Neufeld said.
Other notable players in the space include San Francisco-based OpenSpace, which recently raised $102 million in funding, and Israel’s Buildots, which closed $60 million in funding. So it’s clear that investors are still willing to back the next big movers and shakers in the construction industry.
“I would say the challenges of the pandemic have contributed in part to investing in this space,” Neufeld continued. “Construction accounts for 12 percent of GDP, and almost every other industry that relies on it, but construction productivity has stagnated in the last 40 or so years. It’s a big problem to solve, not an easy one.”
Building outside
In the year Since the previous $15 million fundraiser in 2019, a lot has changed at Disperse. Previously, the company was focused on London, with big-name clients including the construction giant Massey and the multiplex, although it was then that it launched into New York City. In the intervening years, Disperse has expanded in both markets, with projects currently underway in the Midlands and North of the UK as well as on water in Ireland. Stateside, meanwhile, Disperse has expanded its operations in New York and also has projects in Washington DC and Florida with clients including Gilba.
“So far, most of our business is in the UK, we are working with a large share of major contractors and developers, but given our momentum in the US and the size of the market, the US may surpass the UK next year,” Neufeld added.
In terms of product, Dispers has expanded its scope beyond residential and commercial projects, and now covers all types of construction.
“Essentially, if it’s a building, our system can handle it,” Neufeld said. For example, we are now servicing a number of projects in healthcare, education, retail and manufacturing.
With another $16 million in the bank, Neufeld also teased a major new product in the works, though he was very positive about the difference.
“We can’t divulge anything yet, but for the last year or two, product and engineering efforts have been focused on enabling active decision-making on construction sites, and the initial soft launch has gone well,” he said.
Disperse’s latest funding round was led by 2150, with participation from Northzone and Kindred Capital.
