Contech is Rapidly Transforming the Construction Industry

After decades of venture capital flowing past construction and into other sectors, a diverse set of innovations attracted over $5.4 billion dollars of investment into Contech startups in 2021 and held steady in 2022. 

From artificial intelligence to sustainability, and the internet of things to robotics, the construction industry is rapidly transforming, and a panel discussed the phenomenon at the Blueprint conference this week in Las Vegas.

Danielle Dy Buncio, CEO & Founder, VIATechnik, has spent her entire career in construction and she said she’s seen the construction industry as long been a “check your tech at the door” kind of operation.

“Workers might have smartphones and other devices, but once on the site, they put them away,” she said. “Today is time for a different, more exciting way to do things.

“It’s not that construction workers need new skills, it’s that they need technology to help them to perform those skills better.”

Tessa Lau, Founder, Dusty Robotics, said she does see new jobs on the construction team, such as drone operator and auto-robot operator. 

“These workers can take their drones and robots from site to site to do their jobs,” she said. 

Meirav Oren, CEO & Co-Founder, Versatile, said that often there isn’t a digitized version of what was just built.

“If we have a strong understanding, it can create opportunities where we can collect data on the construction to understand it better,” she said.

Owners have a lot of control over what tech they choose to use, Victoria Smith, Investment Lead, North America, Zacua Ventures, said, and it’s been beneficial that we now see more general contractors (GCs) sharing what they use and how it performs with others.

“Construction companies are getting away from working in silos,” Smith said.

Lau said owners should pay more attention to the construction process – and they should demand robotics be used – and if they do, they will achieve better outcomes. 

“Construction is not owners’ core business,” Dy Buncio said, “but they should approach it with one part selfishness and one part collaboration. This way, they are more involved and can get what they want.”

Lau said robotics construction systems are available to help with the labor shortage and complete projects more quickly.

Dusty Robotics uses BIM, an intelligent software modeling process that enables multiple trades to collaborate on a construction project simultaneously. 

The model understands the specific functions of the design, and everyone involved in the planning has their own “view” of a realistic 3D model of the building.”

“In the venture capital world, you need to build a product that is 10x better than the product you are trying to replace, or investors and customers won’t be interested,” she said. “They aren’t ready to completely change the way they do things for incremental progress.”