2025 Investor Award Winners Announced

BuiltWorlds celebrated its latest Investor Awards at Venture West 2026, recognizing the top venture capitalists in the built environment tech space.

The awards, given out annually, acknowledge industry impact throughout the year prior, considering the capital they deploy, but also strategic engagement, ecosystem support, and long-term commitment to advancing innovation across the sector. The categories this year included: Sustainability Investor of the Year, Corporate Venture Capitalist of the Year, Venture Capitalist Investor of the Year and Accelerator Program of the Year.

“This year’s awards were particularly special because the built environment saw such strong venture activity in 2025,” said Max Quertermus, senior analyst in charge of BuiltWorlds’ venture programming. “We tracked 713 venture deals last year, surpassing the previous peak in 2024 by more than a hundred.”

The awards received a record number of nominations this year, with investors from around the world vying for recognition. While the competition was fierce, the winners were clear.

Sustainability Investor of the Year

The Sustainability Investor of the Year Award recognizes the investor whose portfolio and recent investment activity most clearly advance sustainability across the built world. The honoree combines an active cadence of climate- and impact-focused deals with a demonstrable commitment to decarbonization, resource efficiency, and long-term environmental performance.

This year’s winner is Cemex Ventures.

Launched in 2017 as the open innovation and corporate venture capital arm of Cemex, Cemex Ventures has invested in 25 companies across the AEC space, with a dedicated focus on green construction, circularity, and low‑carbon technologies that directly support Cemex’s “Future in Action” net‑zero roadmap. In 2025, the firm underscored that commitment with a strategic investment in Terra CO2, a climate‑friendly cement and SCM innovator whose OPUS SCM product can cut cement‑related emissions by up to 70% when used as a partial clinker replacement, positioning decarbonized concrete as a practical, cost‑competitive option at global scale.

By backing solutions like Terra CO2 that can be integrated across Cemex operations in the Americas and Europe, Cemex Ventures is not only greening its own value chain, but also helping to de‑risk and accelerate adoption of low‑carbon materials across the wider construction ecosystem. This combination of strategic alignment, measurable emissions‑reduction potential, and active partnership with portfolio companies makes Cemex Ventures a clear leader in advancing sustainability in the built environment.

Finalists included VoLo Earth Ventures, Undivided Ventures, Cemex Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, Breakthrough Energy, and Clean Energy Ventures.

CVC Investor of the Year

The CVC Investor of the Year Award honors the corporate or strategic venture arm that most actively and thoughtfully deploys capital into built world technologies. The winner pairs meaningful deal activity with strategically aligned investments that drive both financial returns and tangible impact for their core business and the broader industry.

This year’s winner is WND Ventures.

WND Ventures, the corporate venture arm of DPR Construction, has backed 18 startups since its launch in 2015. In 2025, WND distinguished itself not just through the pace of numerous direct investments, but through a deliberate strategy that invests through five funds and a new venture studio model focused on AI and robotics—extending its impact well beyond a single balance sheet. By helping to build a shared construction data backbone with industry partners, WND Ventures is laying critical infrastructure for the next generation of tools that its own project teams, and the broader market, will rely on.

Finalists included WND Ventures, Trimble Ventures, UFP Ventures, Hilti Ventures, NOVA by Saint-Gobain, and GS Futures.

VC Investor of the Year

The VC Investor of the Year Award recognizes the institutional venture capital firm that most effectively advances built environment innovation through a combination of deal volume and the overall quality and strategic fit of its portfolio. The award highlights investors whose recent activity shows clear sector focus, strong founder support, and meaningful impact on the ecosystem.

This year’s winners are Suffolk Technologies and Brick & Mortar Ventures.

Since 2019, Suffolk Technologies has made over 60 investments as a venture firm and invests in startups tackling the built environment’s biggest productivity and transformation challenges. The firm pairs venture capital with a deeply engaged network of industry operators that acts as a real-world proving ground for new technologies, while supporting early-stage founders with capital, industry expertise and ecosystem connections across construction, real estate, and infrastructure. It also runs the BOOST accelerator, now approaching its seventh cohort, to help emerging companies pilot, scale, and drive technology adoption across the industry.

Founded in 2015, Brick & Mortar Ventures is on a mission to identify, invest in, and help grow emerging companies around the world developing innovative software and hardware solutions for the construction industry. Over the last year, the firm expanded its global footprint with new investments in collaboration platforms, field productivity tools, robotics, and sensing technologies, while also backing a new wave of AI‑driven solutions. Their combination of sector conviction, hands-on support for founders, and consistent presence in the earliest stages of emerging categories, as well as their accelerator program Formwork Labs, continues to make Brick & Mortar an essential catalyst for the built‑world innovation ecosystem.

Finalists included Navitas Capital, Zacua Ventures, Suffolk Technologies, Ironspring Ventures, MetaProp, and Brick & Mortar Ventures.

Accelerator Program of the Year

The Accelerator Program of the Year Award celebrates the accelerator program that has had the most significant impact on built environment startups. This award emphasizes programs that provide high-quality mentorship, industry access, pilots, and strong follow-on outcomes, helping founders validate, refine, and scale their solutions.

This year’s winner is Trimble 0-60.

Since 2018, the Trimble 0-60 Accelerator Program has identified early-stage companies from around the world innovating in the AECO space across three categories: Connected Data, Connected Design, and Connected Field or Jobsite. The three-month program provides access to Trimble experts and business mentors and culminates in an exciting Demo Day at Trimble Dimensions.

Trimble 0-60 is being recognized this year for going beyond a traditional accelerator model to deliver tangible commercial and product outcomes for founders. By structuring the program as an intensive 12-week “integration sprint,” 0-60 encourages every startup to ship a live integration into the Trimble ecosystem and then showcase that work on a major industry stage in front of hundreds of qualified buyers and partners—turning mentorship and exposure into real go-to-market traction. The program’s track record, from alumni securing strategic investment to companies achieving notable exits during or shortly after the cohort, demonstrates its ability to accelerate not just startups, but the broader digital transformation of the built environment.

Finalists included BOOST by Suffolk Technologies, Trimble 0-60, Formwork Labs by Brick & Mortar Ventures, EllisDon ConTech Accelerator, Leonard by VINCI, and CRH Ventures Accelerators.