Foundamental

In Scandinavia, 90% of single-family homes are manufactured in factories. It's nothing special there - just how they build. Our investor Gabriele Tinelli recently sat down with Helena Lidelöw on his BitBuilders podcast. Coming from 12 years at Lindbäcks Bygg (Sweden's modular construction pioneer) to Volumetric Building Companies, she shared some insights on what matters in factory-built housing and what she's observed with one foot in Swedish tradition and one in American innovation: Long-term persistence over disruption - Lindbacks' 100-year history shows how patient improvement outperforms flashy innovation when investing heavily in factory infrastructure. Efficiency metrics reveal striking differences - many US factories (400-600 man-hours per module) vs. the best European pioneers (110) highlights profitability opportunities. Helena warned that consistent pipeline and standardization matter more than volumetric vs. panelized debates. "This is an extremely hungry animal" The expertise exodus - "When I'm retiring, this industry will be different." We're losing construction knowledge faster than we're capturing it. Another thing we here at Foundamental note is the need to shape demand before you standardize supply at a higher unit (eg. modules). We talk about the concept of demand shaping in construction here: https://lnkd.in/er6TjVEX 👇 Listen to the full conversation between Gabriele and Helena - Link in the comments below. #ModularConstruction #FactoryBuilt #ConstructionTech #Manufacturing #BuildingInnovation

Our GP Patric spoke to Enrico from Lakestar and Jan Thomas from Startup Insider about how the last 8 weeks are currently playing out among American and European ConstructionTech founders and investors. Some counter intuitive observations: - should VCs be apolitical? - are US ConTech founders looking at Europe now? - are we seeing European construction dynamism next? Definitely worth listening to! Link to the podcast (🇩🇪): https://lnkd.in/d-f9Eiaa #VentureCapital #StartupInvestment #TechInvestment #EuropeanVC

Wait, is the construction industry still running Windows 95 while the rest of us are on AI 2.0? No, not by a long shot! There is something special we would like to share Verdict featured our General Partner Patric Hellermann alongside industry titans Dennis Lentz (Board Heidelberg Materials), Dimitris Bountolos (Board Ferrovial), and Fabian Lenz (Board GOLDBECK Technologies) in their deep dive on AI's role in construction! Construction remains in its "Internet 1.0" era as Patric explains - creating a once-in-a-generation opportunity window. "Imagine if you could've invested in those tech firms shaping the world today during the 1990s." We are in that stage in construction, but at an accelerated pace. The article features industry intel from the Board Members and Investors that matters: 1/ Follow the money: AI's killer insertion point in construction? “The bidding and estimation workflows at GCs [general contractors] are among the single biggest points of failure, and enablers of margins. If you get those early bid and estimation decisions wrong, your entire project execution might be under water regardless how well you execute that project you won over the next years. Many workflows that happen later depend on those decisions and get informed by those documents. As a result, when you find ways to create value with AI here, it holds immense visibility and spreading potential.” Another example mentioned are data infrastructure opportunities. Fabian Lenz at Goldbeck: “Construction has historically not been a data-first industry, meaning software tools and data architectures are often fragmented and inconsistent. Integrating AI requires significant effort to standardise and improve these systems, ensuring that data is accessible, structured, and usable at scale.” 2/ AI demand and supply in construction differs across opportunities: “In white collar workflows, for GC’s [general contractors], the bidding and estimation workflow as well as the financial back office are interesting insertion points for AI. In blue collar execution, the AI enabling on-site robotics is a highly promising area” “AI has potential use cases within the construction process but the technology also can be used for operating sustainable infrastructure once it is built.” Dimitris Bountolos at Ferrovial cites a key example as the use of Visual Large Models, developed with partner NTT Data for highway operations. 3/ Smart enterprise governance to drive ROI from AI adoption: Dennis Lentz at Heidelberg Materials: “The biggest risk with AI is that it just adds tools, and therefore cost and complexity, without creating benefits that impact the bottom line.” At Heidelberg Materials, all use cases go through an AI decision board, where the CFO, CTO, and CDO give the green light for development. Super insightful article from Lara Williams. Thank you for capturing these insights 💜 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/dfwzYCcP

"You don't need to be right all the time. Sometimes you just need to hang around longer and compound. In these cases, if you just stick around long enough, that's how you then get to participate in the bigger wins.” In a recent interview with Harrison F., our General Partner Shubhankar Bhattacharya reveals why we at Foundamental bet on construction tech - a sector representing just 0.1% of VC funding despite making up 10%+ of global GDP. Shub shares his journey from failed entrepreneur to successful investor at one of India's pioneering VC funds Kae Capital, where his investments in ZETWERK, HealthKart, and Tata 1mg are now worth over $5 billion combined. As a result, Shub values those who put numbers and facts first and acknowledge potential problems rather than hiding them. And partnerships between founders and investors come from difficult but honest conversations. Shub shares more about his taste for non-obvious opportunities (backed by facts). Curious about finding opportunity where others aren't looking 👀? Watch the full interview - We promise it's worth your time. https://lnkd.in/d8kYSkFT A BIG thank you to Harrison for drawing out these insights on The OpenVC Show and giving Shub the space to share his journey. #Startup #VentureCapital #Entrepreneurship #FounderAdvice #Investing #ConstructionTech

Excited to share this insightful piece from our colleague Fabio Bronzin on disrupting mining - a 40,000-year-old industry facing unprecedented challenges: Critical mineral demand is set to continue growing: copper demand alone is expected to double from 25M to 50M tons by 2035, with a projected 10M ton supply shortfall. Traditional exploration is yielding fewer discoveries despite rising costs: only 45 new deposits were discovered in 2023 despite $12.8B spent across 15,500 projects (vs 175 discoveries in 2012). Worldwide ! Did you know that the odds of successful an economical exploration success are surprisingly low: <0.1% of exploration targets advance to development! Why startups struggle to gain traction: The mining industry presents quirks: a concentrated market with tech-resistant giants who make slow decisions, and technology decisions made only once or twice in a mine's lifecycle (hence: narrow windows of opportunity). Despite these challenges, some startups are finding their way through with promising early signs: Instead of trying to sell technology to resistant mining giants, startups like EARTH AI, KoBold Metals, and Durin are flipping the model by becoming mining competitors themselves - leveraging AI, machine learning, and/or automated drilling technology to achieve dramatically better discovery rates and operational efficiencies while capturing value through mineral rights sales, joint ventures, and equity partnerships, rather than software licenses. Tech alone often might not be enough - we observe category-creation also on the business model. Read Fabio's full analysis on how companies are using technological advantages to compete directly rather than just selling software - creating a potential blueprint for disrupting other resistant industries. #MiningTech #CriticalMinerals #Innovation #ConTech #AI

Ever seen a construction tech company grow by 1,237% in traffic? That's exactly what Versatile achieved this month. But they're not alone in this growth story. #Key insights from our latest Foundamental AEC-Tech Internet Index: - 6 out of top 10 fastest risers are hitting triple-digit growth - SaaS solutions dominate the growth charts - Newcomers like Urbint (233%) and PermitFlow (217%) are reshaping the industry Want to dive deeper into the data and discover the full story? Check out our complete February 2025 report - link in the comments! -- The AEC-Tech Internet Index is a monthly analysis of web traffic trends across 100+ construction tech companies with $25M+ in funding, offering an objective look at which solutions are gaining real-world traction beyond the typical PR and fundraising headlines #ConTech #Construction #AEC #ConstructionTechnology #Innovation

🎯 The loudest hype often leads to the quietest exits. In this episode of Practical Nerds, we took a trip down memory lane to 2019, when we started Foundamental. We reviewed the "hot" construction tech trends that we were pitched on a regular basis in 2019: - The "next Katerra" (2.1B+ raised, yet ultimately shut down) - Digital GCs for renovations - iBuyer models - Quick commerce for construction sites - The "next Procore" - Drone & reality capture solutions The fascinating part? Most of these heavily-funded categories from 2019-2021 (our early days) didn't realize their promise. Meanwhile, at-the-time less-hyped areas like construction marketplaces and design software have shown remarkable staying power since then. In this episode we share: - Why fundraising success is not a reliable indicator - How to evaluate if market characteristics support your business model - Which ConTech trends proved sustainable and why - The evolution from single-player to collaborative solutions Key lesson: Don't over-amplify fundraising success or short-term trends. Focus on fundamentally sound business models that make sense for your specific market. 🎧 Full episode explores how these trends evolved and what we learned. Link in comments. What do you think? Which construction tech trends are you seeing overhyped today? Patric Hellermann Shubhankar Bhattacharya #ConstructionTech #VentureCapital #StartupLessons #PracticalNerds

Awesome News from our portfolio! 💜 Today marks a major milestone as Reneo closes €600 million in equity + debt capital with a lineup of knowledgeable co-investors: Peakside Capital (Boris Schran), Goldman Sachs, Ardian, Eurazeo (Matthieu Bonamy), Lakestar (Christoph Schuh, Enrico Mellis), GOLDBECK, and Bauwens. Many of you know that we love “atoms wrapped in projects”. That’s what we loved about Alexander and Lennart, and Reneo, when we first invested in stealth in 2022. They wrap the renovation and restoration of atoms in hyper standardized projects with Reneo’s software and cloud manufacturing supply chains. As such, we think Reneo pioneers an asset-grade and institutional approach to the charge in the decarbonization of large real estate portfolios in Europe, achieving up to 60% reductions in energy consumption while creating value for both tenants and investors. Congratulations Lennart and Alexander, and the entire Reneo team for your significant milestone, and coming out of stealth ! We here at Foundamental are proud to have been your partners for the last 3 years ! 🌍 #Reneo #Decarbonization #BuiltWorld #GreenTransition #Sustainability #Foundamental #Investment

Some matches are just meant to be. 💜 6 years ago, on Valentine's Day, our Founding Partner Shubhankar Bhattacharya met Souvik Sengupta, co-founder of Infra.Market, for the first time. What caught Shub's attention? A website displaying daily sales, concrete tonnage, and delivery numbers in real-time. That level of transparency and confidence was impossible to ignore. Today, Infra.Market is headed for IPO, transforming India's construction materials industry. But the beginning of this success story started with a simple LinkedIn profile visit on February 14th, 2018. Watch Shub tell the story of how it all began… and get a glimpse of our upcoming deep-dive into the Infra.Market journey. #constructionTech #construction #startup #vc #marketplace #tech #IPO #inframarket

Ever tried filling water into a bucket with holes? That’s exactly what we’re doing with energy in buildings across Europe and the U.S. 🎯 The Simple Truth: The water = our primary energy (power and heat) The bucket = our buildings The holes = our insulation problems Most buildings are basically SpongeBob SquarePants—full of holes, leaking energy while we keep pouring more in. Yet, in tech and venture, we chase solar panels, heat pumps, and grid innovations while ignoring the simplest fix: keeping what we already have. Insulation doesn’t attract sexy headlines. But we at Foundamental believe it should: 💡 Upgraded insulation can reduce energy consumption by up to 45%. Who gets it? VARM Most companies focus on making bigger energy buckets. Varm is fixing the leaks first. They’re not just installing insulation; they’re turning it into an operationally scalable system. And it’s working. Yet, insulation still isn’t the headline solution in most energy debates. It doesn’t have the appeal of “new” technology. It’s invisible when done right. But the impact? Undeniable. This isn’t a new idea. For centuries, energy was expensive, so wasting it wasn’t an option. Romans wrapped bathhouses in cork. Up north, homes were covered in sod. By the 1800s, even factories used mineral wool to keep heat from escaping. Then fossil fuels changed everything. Energy got cheap. Waste? Not a concern—until it became one. We built like there was no tomorrow. Thin walls, drafty windows, minimal insulation. Now energy's expensive again, and we're scrambling. That brings us to today: Europe and the U.S. are both trying to solve this crisis. Different approaches, same mistake. They’re focusing on what powers a building before fixing how that building holds energy. 🇪🇺 Europe’s Challenge: - 75% of buildings are energy inefficient - Heavy investment in new tech, but not enough in basics (skilled labor shortages stall retrofits—heat pumps take priority) - Key paradox: Heat pumps in poorly insulated homes often increase energy bills 🇺🇸 USA’s Reality: - 90% of homes are under-insulated - Decades of cheap energy led to minimal insulation standards - Result: Billions spent on new tech while ignoring fundamentals The pattern keeps repeating. Instead of fixing the core issue, we chase new solutions, hoping they’ll compensate for past mistakes. It’s time to rethink the starting point of the energy conversation: 📌 Stop the leaks first. 📌 Then figure out how to pour energy in. Until we get that sequence right, we’re just running in circles—throwing money at energy solutions while ignoring the fundamentals. wdyt guys? Which episode of SpongeBob SquarePants is the best??? lol cc: Christian Gruener, Sebastian Wuerz #startup #climatetech #insulation #constructiontech #venturecapital