The 2023 built world startup market is continuing to evade investment hesitations with $1.3B in venture capital being deployed across 19 countries in this ripe investment niche.

Innovation-inspired corporate leaders are taking up arms in the race toward the future of the built environment, as new corporate-driven investment vehicles add fuel to the nascent AEC startups. A growing number of increasingly active corporate venture capital (CVC) funds have taken the reigns of the early-stage built world market leading 26 of the 68 deals tracked in the first 6 weeks of 2023 led.

BuiltWorlds’ tracked $570M in CVC-led deal flow since 2023 began, a stark contrast to the booming investment activity in the first 6 weeks of 2022 which only saw 3 corporate-led deals (out of the 36 tracked investments totaling $1.33B in value).

The innovative hurdles of the highly fragmented construction/building space are being taken down by digitally inspired legacy corporations who are looking to solidify their place in the future-built world. Pilot program exhaustion is coming to an end as legacy builders put some skin in the game.

In the past 3 months alone, 5 global AEC leaders have announced fund launches worth more than $1B in deployable strategic capital aimed directly at the economically agnostic built startup environment.