Oakland, Calif.-based StructionSite, Inc., which offers photogrammetry-driven project tracking software for the general and trade construction contractors, announced today a $10 million funding round lead by 500 Global, joined by Denver-based global contractor PCL Construction, GS Futuresand other existing investors.
Bi-directional visibility
In the same announcement, StructionSite unveiled a new integration with construction internet of things (IoT) vendor Latium Technologies. StructionSite’s project tracking data can now be seamlessly incorporated into Latium’s Job Site Insights (JSI) Smart Construction platform. JSI is a suite of software and sensors that plot data on a construction site image mission-critical events like water leaks or flooding, concrete strength/maturity, air quality including particulates, tool and material location or usage, carbon footprint and temperature and humidity. Real time monitoring, threshold alerts and contextualized data from these sensors are plotted across a graphical model of the job site. The bidirectional integration enables JSI data points to be shared on Structionsite’s image-based model and vice versa.
According to a press release, “construction leaders recognized the platform’s potential to help builders through bleeding edge technology designed around their specific needs. The new funds will be used to expand StructionSite’s platform capabilities and extend its leadership position in the market.”
In a phone interview with ForConstructionPros, StructionSite CEO Matt Daly suggested the technology may be more proven and reliable than the terminology in the release let on both solutions involved in the integration are proven and accepted in the market.
“What we provide is reality capture,” Daly said. “Most people just think of photogrammetry as reality capture, but a sensor is the same in one dimension—often temperature or humidity. So bleeding edge is not the right term. These are two solutions that are tested and proven in the market, and we are bringing the data sets together in one place. Integrations in general drive value by making information available where you want it instead of having to go get it somewhere else.”
For the time being, the integration simply plots data points from one system across the project schematic or model used by the other—there is no interoperability beyond that, but this could change.
“This is the first integration StructionSite is making available in the JSI platform,” Daly said. “We are not sending all the data, but allowing the visualization without having to swap systems. What we may do after this is more data heavy. The common key and contextual element between Latium and StructionSite is the construction drawing. A deeper integration will take our data and put it on their drawing and put theirs on our drawing. In theory it is the same drawing—the architectural floor plan of a space or multi-level building.”
Development of a more complete integration, which would expose more of the data set behind each alert or icon on the drawing, would depend on customer feedback and demand, and Daly said if they hear customers would like the data to physically reside on the drawing, they will pursue that.
Contractor backing tech
Enterprise software can represent a significant investment for a construction contractor, but in this case, StructionSite and Latium share a customer who is investing in StructionSite as part of the funding round. While venture capital investments suggest that a technology offering’s prospects for success can withstand third party due diligence by accredited investors, customer investments carry an altogether different meaning.
“Especially with a market like construction tech, where tech is newer, the important message this should send is that we have a long-term interest in this industry,” Daly said. “We are aligning ourselves even on an investor level with our customers. So we are not just relying on financial investors who are driven strictly by return … having industry investors keeps us very closely aligned to what the industry needs.”
StructionSite is not the first construction technology vendor to receive capital infusions from customers. Daly cited Cambridge, Mass.-based Newmetrix as one example. But PCL may be among the most progressive companies in the space, actively developing and then investing in construction tech. Latium in 2021 merged their solution with PCL’s own Job Site Insights software product, and PCL CIO Mark Bryant took on the additional mantle of Latium CEO. Bryant collaborated with Microsoft to develop JSI which launched in 2017. Under Bryant, PCL has made other steps to bring transformational technology onto job sites, including a pilot of the Boston Dynamics "Spot" robot dog at a construction site in Toronto.
Funding growth
The $10 million funding round will go not only for research and development to make the company's SmartTrack product more useful to track job progress in real time rather than simply marrying photogrammetry to a construction drawing.
“In our first phase, we focused a lot on documenting and capturing stuff, digitizing stuff and getting photos and videos,” Daly said. “The next phase of our business is now tracking the job, providing visibility into how quickly trades are moving. How are we progressing as opposed to the plan? We launched SmartTrack a year and a half ago—expanding what we can track for builders.”
Contractors could benefit from investment in a more dynamic and commercial approach to visualization and presentation of project data several ways.
“They could use it to verify pay applications and ensure the right people are getting paid the right amount,” Daly said. “The biggest need we see in the industry right now is a talent shortage, so we need tech to remove work from people on the job site. It takes a lot of the work in tracking the job—and we need to take away a lot of the monotonous tracking work. If you have a trade that is not working in the right sequence or moving more slowly, you can get in front of it.”
The funding will also go to recruit more sales and marketing personnel and improve StructionSite’s ability to go to market at scale.
BOTTOM LINE: Contractors interested in combining photogrammetry and IoT site data in a single view ought to watch StructionSite and Latium as the two products become more interoperable. And the flow of both venture capital and customer-side investment suggests StructionSite's business plan and technology stand up to rigorous due diligence of a VC while also satisfying a major contractor that the company can also deliver returns to customers.
