Real-time construction intelligence startup Mercator AI has raised a $1 million CAD pre-seed round to expand its technology beyond Calgary and Toronto.
Mercator uses its technology to help the business development teams of general contractors identify project opportunities early on. Finding new business in the industry traditionally requires a mix of grinding out manual research and dead-end cold calls, according to the startup.
“The industry is a black box where you’re constantly trying to meet as many people as possible to expand that network,” said CEO Chloe Smith, who co-founded Mercator with Hogan Lee, the company’s COO. “We can make that happen a lot faster and we can connect them with the right people at the right time about the right projects.”
Members can watch Mercator AI’s Demo Drop Presentation Here
Mercator uses AI to mine and analyze millions of data points across the construction process to identify indicators that signal early project development. Through partnerships with government entities, private data providers, and their own proprietary methods, they can track the activity on those projects through to completion. This enables customers to access early project opportunities, who’s involved, and historical trends.
Standup Ventures led the round with participation from The51; Mallorie Brodie, CEO of the project management construction platform and BuiltWorlds member and Catalyzer Program participant Bridgit; Kerry Liu, an executive vice president at supply chain and planning company Kinaxis; and Critical Mass chair, Dianne Wilkins.
Other investors include Thiago Da Costa, CEO of data workspace company and BuiltWorlds member Toric; Stephany Lapierre, CEO of the AI supply chain procurement startup TealBook (who invested through Fresh Founders, where she is an LP); and venture capital firm Mistral. The round closed at the end of April.
Mercator said the fresh funds enabled Smith and Lee to go from part-time to full-time with the startup while adding five staff members. The team is currently looking for an additional eighth person to fill the role of machine learning lead.
The money will also enable Mercator to expand from its current markets of Calgary and Toronto into key markets across Canada and in the United States.
The funding also provides some padding for Mercator during the current tech downturn. Smith said she’s been actively working with Mercator’s investors to ensure the company has a good runway, which currently extends a year without any additional revenue. Smith noted Mercator has some strong indicators that it may be able to stretch that to 18 months.
She pointed out that it’s early days for the startup, which currently has four customers through its pilot. Smith said the goal is to acquire 27 customers on the platform by the end of the year.
Click the images below to watch Mallorie Brodie and Chloe Smith’s Session Videos recorded at our Venture West Conference
Bridgit is a sponsor of the 2022 Construction Tech Conference. Click Here to Register
ABOUT AROUND THE NETWORK BRIEFS:
BuiltWorlds “Around the Network” Briefings offer BuiltWorlds Members an opportunity to keep the Community informed of their own initiatives, resource offerings, and other things they are excited to share about or collaborate around. We generally pull these posts as “highlights” from Member Company Pages, Innovation Exchange Posts, and other places our members share with us what they are up to.
ABOUT BUILTWORLDS:
BuiltWorlds is the buildings and infrastructure industry’s leading professional network for open innovation, keeping companies in the worlds of engineering, construction and related fields informed and connected, and helping them find avenues to collaborate for their own strategic success and for the betterment of the industry, as whole. For more information about BuiltWorlds, visit the BuiltWorlds Network or sign up for the BuiltWorlds Newsletter to stay connected to the Community for free.
Discussion
Be the first to leave a comment.
You must be a member of the BuiltWorlds community to join the discussion.