Canadian green construction technology company, Nexii Building Solutions Inc. has reached unicorn status—a term used to define a startup that has a valuation of $1 billion or more—in fewer than 31 months.
This makes Nexii the fastest company to reach this milestone in Canadian history. To date, Nexii’s total equity raised is over $109 million ($125 million Canadian) with post-money valuation on its last raise of $1.23 billion ($1.55 billion Canadian).
Nexii designs and manufactures buildings and green building products that are sustainable, cost-efficient, and resilient in the face of climate change. Its building solutions have a lower carbon footprint with 20-33% less embodied carbon, use 33% less energy overall and 55% less heating energy.
The company’s sustainable products use a breakthrough building material, Nexiite, that has comparable properties to concrete but contains no Portland cement or lime, significantly reducing end-to-end carbon emissions.
Nexiite is made up of a proprietary blend of readily available ingredients, with no ILFI Red List toxic substances, and is used to create Nexii Panels for use in commercial, industrial and residential buildings. The Nexii System reduces construction timelines, allowing for rapid development of sustainable buildings across North America.
“At Nexii we are incredibly proud of how far we’ve come since launching as a small startup in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in 2019,” says Nexii CEO Stephen Sidwell. “Today, we have expanded to eight manufacturing plants in operation or development across North America. We have world leaders on our board, incredible investors, technology partners and a team of over 300 all committed to our mission of changing the construction industry, bringing high-performance sustainable building solutions to every sector of business and every area of the world.”
Nexii’s growth plans have recently been bolstered by a number of high-profile partnerships, including naming Honeywell its exclusive buildings technologies supplier, collaborating with Trane Technologies to create sustainable commercial buildings with reduced carbon footprints and most recently joining forces with Siemens to advance the rapid delivery of high-performance total building solution.
Actor Michael Keaton has also partnered with Nexii to bring a Nexii manufacturing plant to Pittsburgh, Penn., while Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco is supporting the opening of a plant in Hazleton, Penn. Jason F. McLennan, who was named a World Changer by GreenBiz, also serves as Nexii’s impact architect.
Gregor Robertson, former mayor of Vancouver, and now executive vice president of Nexii, says, “Never before has the work we’re doing at Nexii been so important. Buildings and construction account for 39% of global climate pollution, making the industry the No. 1 driver of the climate crisis. To help solve this, we must address the challenge of emissions from buildings and construction. That’s what we’re doing at Nexii, and that’s why such incredible partners are attracted to working with us.”
Nexii also announced its newest board member, David S. Taylor, chairman of the board, president and CEO at P&G. Beginning Nov. 1, Taylor will transition to a new role as P&G’s executive chairman. In joining the Nexii board, Taylor will contribute his experience to support Nexii as it scales across North America, with a view to future international expansion.
“I have always been a strong believer in the power of innovation to create meaningful change,” says Taylor. “That’s exactly what Nexii is doing today, reinventing how the world builds so we can reduce climate impacts in a meaningful way for our planet. I’m excited to help the Nexii team scale their ground-breaking products and take sustainable construction across North America, and eventually, the world.”
As a member of Nexii’s board of directors, Taylor joins a team that includes Ronald Sugar, chairman of Uber and board director at Apple; Bill McNabb, former chairman and CEO of Vanguard and Mike Roberts, former global president and COO of McDonald’s.
To date, Nexii panels have been used in industrial, commercial rental units, single-story commercial buildings and retrofit projects, as well as high-performance envelope systems and residential buildings. Recent projects include an energy-saving exterior building envelope for a Courtyard Marriott; a first-of-its-kind sustainably built Starbucks, constructed in six days and reducing the store’s emissions by 30%; and projects for clients including Popeyes and A&W Restaurants.
