Brick & Mortar fund raises US$97 million to make construction tech-savvy

NEW YORK: Brick & Mortar Ventures, a venture capital fund founded by a scion of family-run Bechtel Corp, said on Tuesday it had raised US$97.2 million from leading construction-related companies as builders turn to 3D printing and other software to cut costs and boost productivity.

San Francisco-based Brick & Mortar initially raised US$50 million in late 2017 and the remainder in January to invest in construction, an industry that was slow to embrace technology. The fund is one of the first to try to digitize construction.Recent deals and valuations surpassing US$1 billion, led by Oracle's acquisition of Australian construction management software provider Aconex Ltd for US$1.2 billion in 2017 made investors take note of building-related technology start-ups.

The company has not invested in Brick & Mortar. The fund, Brick & Mortar Ventures I LP, its investments and limited partners, were formally announced Tuesday.Other investors include software maker Autodesk Inc ; Mexican cement company Cemex SAB de CV ; Sidewalk Labs, an Alphabet company ; and Obayashi Corp , a leading Japanese construction company, among others.Trimble acquired Viewpoint for US$1.2 billion in April 2018.

Big efficiency gains can occur in labor productivity if a company can figure out how to increase time dedicated to work or reduce the number of people out in the field, where 40per cent to 60per cent of a project's cost can be labor, Bechtel said.Resolving the high amount of construction material that is wasted also is ripe for innovation. Some 40per cent to 50per cent of the world's solid waste is estimated to be construction materials.

Branch Technologies, a portfolio company, is introducing new ways of construction through 3D printing, which limits waste as only the amount of material needed is used. The days of cutting lumber down to size and discarding the pieces may be over.

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