The following construction technology companies have issued these updates for the final quarter of 2022.
Tropos Technologies Secures $10 Million Investment
Tropos Technologies, an electric commercial Low Speed Electric Vehicles (LSV) manufacturer in North America, announced a $10 million lead strategic investment in its current Series B round from Workhorse Group, an American technology company focused on pioneering the transition to zero emission commercial vehicles. The transaction was led by Chicago-based Auctus Capital Partners and its senior managing director and CFO, John Dilatush, which acted as the exclusive advisor to Tropos Motors.
"This investment from the leading manufacturer of electric Class 3 and larger trucks will support Tropos’ expansion of its business operations nationwide and strengthen its market leading position,” said Dilatush.
Tropos and Workhorse earlier announced that the companies entered into a contract manufacturing relationship for Workhorse to supplement the production capacity of Tropos’ existing Silicon Valley facility. This is the first major contract manufacturing partnership of its kind for Workhorse, which will save Tropos the time to market and capital required to develop its own facilities to support the Midwest and eastern United States.
This relationship also benefits Workhorse by facilitating a soft ramp up and expansion of its manufacturing capability alongside its own vehicles. The contract is a result of multiple improvements Workhorse has made at its Union City, Ind., plant, upgrading and doubling its manufacturing floor space at the site over the past year, investing between $15-20 million.
EV Manufacturers Provide Updates at Work Truck Week 2023
NTEA has added update sessions from five electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers to the Work Truck Week 2023 educational conference. These EV sessions join the dozen OEM updates previously announced. During the sessions, manufacturer representatives will cover important technical information about their vehicle chassis, design and powertrains. The association also has released more information about the Special Session: Leadership Journeys – Highlighting Diverse Experiences.
Work Truck Week, North America’s largest work truck event, is held at Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis March 7-10. It encompasses Green Truck Summit, The Work Truck Show, Ride & Drive and more. Green Truck Summit takes place at JW Marriott Indianapolis, adjacent to Indiana Convention Center, on March 7. Work Truck Week educational sessions run March 7–9 and Work Truck Show exhibits are open March 8–10. Ride & Drive, which allows attendees to experience commercial vehicles featuring the latest advanced fuels and technologies, is March 8-9.
For more than 20 years, work truck chassis manufacturers have shared their latest chassis specifications and designs, reviewed body and equipment installation options and provided insight into future commercial vehicle plans during Work Truck Week OEM update sessions. This information is valuable to upfitters and body builders looking to optimize their body and equipment designs and installation plans. As new EV chassis manufacturers have come online, fleet and commercial customers are looking for upfitters who can provide solutions using the new platforms.
“Our update sessions offer truck and body equipment manufacturers, installers and upfitters the opportunity to get the facts they need to support their end-user customers and manage their businesses,” explains Kevin Koester, NTEA managing director. “There are a lot of questions and concerns about how to upfit electric vehicles, and as North America’s premier commercial vehicle event, Work Truck Week is an ideal venue to facilitate these conversations.”
The EV update sessions will be held on Thursday, March 9. Participating manufacturers are Cenntro Automotive Corporation, Lion Electric, Lordstown Motors, VIA Motors Inc. and Xos Inc.
Other OEM update sessions begin Tuesday, March 7, and run through Thursday, March 9. Participating companies include Chevrolet Commercial Vehicles, Daimler Truck North America, Ford Pro, Freightliner Custom Chassis, Hino Trucks, International Truck, Isuzu Commercial Truck of America, Kenworth Truck Company, Mack Trucks, Mercedes-Benz USA, Peterbilt Motors Company and Ram Commercial.
In addition to the OEM updates, the Work Truck Week 2023 educational program includes a variety of targeted sessions where industry experts and thought leaders share strategies to help improve efficiency, implement best practices and grow operations. Concurrent sessions address market data and industry trends, vehicle engineering and compliance, government relations, advanced fuels and vehicle technology, workforce development and more. Registered Conference Package attendees can access on-demand materials from many of the concurrent sessions after the event concludes through their WTW23 Planner.
A new special session is scheduled for Thursday, March 9. During Leadership Journeys – Highlighting Diverse Experiences, leaders from various segments of the commercial vehicle community will share their unique experiences and pathways to success during an interactive panel discussion moderated by NTEA Board Chair Tina Albright, VP of HR/safety at TBEI Inc. Confirmed participants include Amy Dobrikova, vice president of fleet solutions at Blink Charging Co., and Exavious (Za) Farley, founder/CEO at Black Fleet Network.
Also on Thursday, Creating a Roadmap to Increase Truck Dealer Commercial Vehicle Sales is designed to provide a blueprint for success to help truck dealers grow their business. It’s led by Ken Taylor, president at Ken Taylor & Associates. Indiana LTAP returns with a fleet educational program on The Importance of Selecting the Right Equipment for Your Municipal Fleet. Purdue Road School offers two sessions, Indiana Statutes and Rules for Professional Engineering Licensure and Professionalism and Ethics in the Practice of Engineering.
The popular Fleet Management 101 led by Marc Canton and Tony Yankovich of fleet management consulting firm Mercury Associates Inc., returns Wednesday, March 8. Also Wednesday is the Generation Next Leadership Workshop & Networking Reception EQ + TQ = Positive Workplace Climate. In this session, Coach Sidney Moncrief, Hall of Famer and motivational speaker at Moncrief One Team, discusses how managing a staff’s emotional intelligence (EQ) with their teamwork intelligence (TQ) brings about sustainable transformation in workplace climate.
Gearflow Raises $5.5M from Brick & Mortar Ventures
Gearflow, a web platform designed to make it easier for construction equipment owners to connect with their parts suppliers, announced a $5.5-million round led by Brick & Mortar Ventures to help fleets eliminate downtime and maximize their profitability.
Brick & Mortar Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on supporting emerging technology that improves the construction industry, is joined by Alumni Ventures, as well as existing investors Newark Venture Partners, Watchfire Ventures, and Liquid2 Ventures as participants in the funding. The investment will be used to further develop Gearflow’s solutions for the heavy equipment parts supply chain.
“At Gearflow, we’re helping construction equipment fleet managers break free from the madness around parts,” said Luke Powers, CEO and founder of Gearflow. “The staggering costs of downtime due to limited supplier access, manual parts sourcing, and human error are crippling productivity in construction. We believe mixed equipment fleets can control the chaos and operate more efficiently with a digital experience that’s designed to work seamlessly within the current ecosystem of end users, distributors, and manufacturers.”
Gearflow is addressing those pain points by modernizing parts commerce in one platform that supports automated parts requests to existing and alternative vendors, live messaging and order management, and real-time repair and maintenance reports.
The platform’s nearly 4,000 users to date include contractors, rental companies, energy/utility fleets, government fleets, service shops, and more, all seeking to make the parts procurement process easier with a single source of truth. One national rental company saved more than $312K in its first 90 days with Gearflow.
Heavy civil contractor Branch Civil Inc., part of the Branch Group based in Roanoke, Virginia, is an early user of Gearflow that sees how automation can impact their fleet’s bottom line.
"We’re working with Gearflow to help us consolidate our parts sourcing options, maintenance workflows, and cost data to ultimately reduce our mechanics’ administrative time and the downtime on our equipment, as well as simplify our invoicing,” said Tim Morgan, equipment operations manager at Branch Civil and chairman of the board for the Association of Equipment Management Professionals, the premier organization serving those who manage and maintain heavy, off-road fleets. “At Branch Civil, our equipment operations are a differentiator in job profitability, and we’re a strong believer in implementing digital tools that help us increase those margins.”
This latest round of capital brings the total amount of funding that Gearflow has raised to $10.1 million, since its founding in 2018.
FARO Acquires SiteScape
Faro Technologies, a 4D digital reality solutions company, announced the acquisition of SiteScape, a LiDAR 3D scanning software solutions company for the AEC and O&M markets. SiteScape enables LiDAR-equipped mobile devices to easily capture indoor spaces digitally, providing a readily available entry point to scanning physical spaces for a broad range of applications.
Integrating SiteScape’s iOS-enabled low-resolution LiDAR capture capability into the FARO Sphere Platform is a further step in streamlining multiple capture methods into a centralized environment to be accessed in a single environment on a single coordinate system. This unique capability enables FARO’s construction and facilities customers to access the widest portfolio of reality capture methods in the market, which now ranges from low-resolution Lidar to 360-degree photo, video, mobile mapping, and terrestrial laser scanning.
"We are pleased to add SiteScape and its groundbreaking 3D LiDAR scanning software to our portfolio of reality capture solutions,” said Michael Burger, FARO President and CEO. “With millions of LiDAR-enabled mobile devices already in the market, the addition of SiteScape opens up a significant population of users to the benefits of FARO’s reality capture solutions.”
“I’m excited to add SiteScape’s proprietary software to the FARO family of cloud-based offerings. FARO accelerates our vision of enabling a broad set of customers with the ability to gain critical insights from their digital reality environments,” added Andy Putch, SiteScape CEO.
Newforma Adds Japanese Language Translation for ConstructEx
Newforma, provider of Project Information Management (PIM) software for architects, engineers, contractors, and owners (AECO), announced the release of a Japanese-language translation for its ConstructEx cloud-based software.
Each project team member can set their language preference in their ConstructEx user profile, including English, Spanish and now Japanese. The translated user interface includes all menus, forms, and report screens. All ConstructEx modules have been translated, including Construction Administration (submittals, RFIs), Project Communication, Document Management and Field Management.
Exodigo Honored on TIME’s List of Best Inventions of 2022
The editors of TIME announced that Exodigo’s non-intrusive subsurface mapping platform has been selected as one of TIME's Best Inventions of 2022, which features innovations changing lives.
Using multi-sensor fusion and artificial intelligence (AI), Exodigo’s innovation is transforming underground mapping. Making cost effective, reliable exploration of the underground possible for the first time, Exodigo creates the most accurate, precise subsurface maps used for design and construction.
For the 2022 list, TIME solicited nominations from its editors and correspondents around the world, and through an online application process, paying special attention to growing fields, such as the electric vehicle industry, green energy, and the metaverse. TIME then evaluated each contender on key factors, including originality, efficacy, ambition, and impact. The result: 200 groundbreaking inventions.
“We’re on a mission to revolutionize the way companies and governments interact with the underground,” said Jeremy Suard, CEO and co-founder of Exodigo. “We’re honored to be named as one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2022. We see a world where non-intrusive subsurface discovery accelerates delivery of every capital project by preventing risks, delays, cost overruns, and ultimately improving the environmental footprint of project deployments.
Heartland Ventures Closes on $52M Fund II
Heartland Ventures, the venture capital firm connecting technology startup hubs with customers in America’s heartland, announced the closing of its $52 million Fund II. As with Heartland’s first fund, Fund II investments will be focused on high-growth technology startups with B2B strategies serving real estate, construction, manufacturing, and logistics.
Heartland’s operating model provides not only growth capital to technology startups but also connects them with qualified prospective customers. These customers, which are typically billion-dollar, privately held businesses, serve as Heartland’s Limited Partners and help to identify opportunities for innovation within their industries.
Although the Midwest is home to over one-third of the largest U.S. corporations, less than 14% of all corporate R&D is spent in the region and 94% of startups are founded in coastal states. While most venture capital firms invest in startups and provide occasional operational guidance, Heartland leverages its network to serve as a startup’s go-to-market partner in the Midwest, validating product market fit and connecting the startup with its first customers.
Heartland makes investments of between $500,000 and $2 million, depending on stage and round dynamics. The firm focuses on early-stage companies, typically in Seed and Series A rounds. Fund I, which closed in 2017, included investments in 10 portfolio companies, seven of which are active.
There have been two successful exits from the debut fund. Heartland’s Fund II is expected to include 20 investments made over four years at the Seed and Series A stages. Several investments have been made, including in the autonomous forklift company Third Wave Automation, parking platform Parkade, and construction-specific business development platform ProjectMark.
Workstream, a mobile-first hiring and onboarding platform for the deskless workforce, is among the success stories from Heartland’s Fund I portfolio companies. The San Francisco-based company recently completed a $108 million Series B funding round, at a $500 million valuation, and counts Keith Rabois of Founders Fund among investors.
"When we originally launched Workstream, we received some questions from investors and advisors as to whether labor challenges for hourly work were unique to Silicon Valley,” said Desmond Lim, Co-founder and CEO of Workstream. “It was only with Heartland Ventures’ Midwest partnerships that we were able to validate the scale of the opportunity—both service industry and blue-collar jobs, all across America—and massively expand our total addressable market.”
Heartland investor Genesis Products, a manufacturer of materials for RV, marine and construction brands, sought to create a more dynamic workforce. Heartland introduced Genesis to Claira, a Fund II portfolio company that uses machine learning to understand and optimize a company’s workforce.
"Claira now serves as a digital twin of our workforce. We can instantly identify retention challenges and solutions, as well as dynamically develop our people to be the best in our industry, giving us a competitive advantage at a time when others are stressed by labor concerns," Genesis CEO Jon Wenger said.
Partnership to Support Mack Electric Vehicle Growth
Mack Trucks’ plans to grow its electric vehicle sales received a boost with the announcement that Mack’s parent company, the Volvo Group, has signed a letter of intent with Pilot Company to bring public charging infrastructure to medium- and heavy-duty North American customers. The letter of intent stipulates that the Volvo Group and its commercial brands will provide their expertise to help identify which locations should be prioritized for electromobility infrastructure, based on current and expected battery-electric truck adoption, customer charging requirements, as well as the availability of federal and state funding to offset capital expenses, while Pilot Company intends to install high-performance charging infrastructure at select Pilot and Flying J travel centers across the U.S. There are more than 750 Pilot and Flying J locations throughout North America.
“Partnerships like this one are important for Mack, our industry, and for society as a whole,” said Martin Weissburg, president of Mack Trucks and chairman of Volvo Group North America. “Mack and the Volvo Group are committed to being leaders in the transition to zero-emission transportation and accelerating the availability of publicly accessible charging is crucial to achieving the decarbonized, sustainable future we’re dedicated to helping bring about.”
Mack Trucks offers the Class 8 Mack LR Electric refuse model. Launched in March 2022, the next generation Mack LR Electric model offers a standard 376 kWh total battery capacity providing ample energy and range to meet customer performance and operational needs. Twin electric motors produce 448 continuous horsepower and 4,051 lb.-ft. of peak torque output from zero RPM.
“Pilot Company and Mack Trucks have been synonymous with the American freight and transportation industries for decades, making this partnership a natural fit,” said Shameek Konar, CEO of Pilot Company. “Together, we will work to identify public funding opportunities and to develop the infrastructure our customers need to move toward zero-emission fleets, helping to create a better world for future generations.”
Equipped with four NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide) lithium-ion batteries that are charged through a 150 kW, SAE J1772-compliant charging system, the LR Electric’s batteries power the vehicle and all onboard accessories through 12V, 24V and 600V circuits. Energy from the two-stage regenerative braking system is recaptured from the hundreds of stops the LR Electric makes each day as its load increases.
The partnership with Pilot Company will enable BEV customers to access selected charging locations strategically located in high-traffic areas of North America, helping to ensure that BEVs have the power necessary to reach their destinations. The charging network will support increased adoption of BEVs as well as help customers reach their sustainability goals.
Vanguard Partners With Hydra-Power Systems To Expand Battery Solutions
Briggs & Stratton announced a partnership with Hydra-Power Systems (HPS), a designer and manufacturer of hydraulic and pneumatic valve manifolds, hydraulic power units and custom hydraulic equipment for mobile, industrial, marine, agricultural and mining markets. HPS will utilize Vanguard Commercial Lithium-Ion Battery Packs in customized hydroelectric solutions for its OEM customers.
“We’re thrilled to add Hydra-Power Systems as our newest Battery Technology Partner,” said Chris Davison, senior marketing manager, electrification, at Briggs & Stratton. “With the long-standing trust HPS has built with its customers and stakeholders, we’re confident Vanguard batteries will make an immediate, strong impact on new industries and vital applications.”
Headquartered in Portland, Ore., HPS has over 50 years of experience as a distributor of hydraulic and pneumatic products with one of the largest inventories in the United States. Since 1970, HPS has been designing and manufacturing custom hydraulic power units, test stands and special machinery from 1/2 hp to 1400 hp.
“In addition to offering an expansive inventory with the ability to get products to our customers quickly, we pride ourselves in our engineering and integration expertise for customers looking for custom hydraulic and electric hybrid solutions,” said Dan Sowards, VP of Sales and Business Development at Hydra-Power Systems. “Partnering with Vanguard will give us an edge in assisting our OEMs with quickly integrating durable, smart battery solutions as more industries embrace electrification.”
Vanguard Commercial Lithium-Ion Battery Packs are the only fully integrated, complete battery solution on the market. The patent pending customized Vanguard Lithium-Ion battery pack, battery management system and charger work seamlessly together to increase productivity and performance, and lower total cost of ownership. The Vanguard Commercial Lithium-Ion Battery Pack line features 1.5kWh*, 3.5kWh*, 3.8kWh*, 5kWh*, 7kWh* and 10kWh* options. This offers OEMs a fully integrated electric system with the capacity to connect additional Vanguard packs in parallel for more power.
Trimble and HP Collaborate on Robotic Technology
Trimble and HP are collaborating on the integration of Trimble's latest robotic total station with HP's new SitePrint robotic layout solution. The solution focuses on transforming the layout process for indoor construction projects.
The construction industry faces a variety of challenges including the shortage of skilled workers and productivity. HP and Trimble can address these challenges with an integration of HP SitePrint and the recently introduced Trimble Ri total station. The integrated solution can deliver an autonomous layout workflow that empowers efficiency and productivity on the job, while delivering layouts faster than traditional methods. Augmenting the contractors' work, SitePrint can avoid obstacles and print lines and complex objects with pinpoint accuracy and consistent repeatability. In addition, text printing capabilities bring additional data from the digital model to the construction site to prevent errors.
Using optical technology, the precise positioning and navigation of HP SitePrint robot is driven by the Trimble Ri total station. Equipped with automatic level detection, self-calibration, and Trimble VISION technology for advanced tracking, the Trimble Ri enables the HP SitePrint robot to achieve autonomous, high-accuracy indoor layout work.
"The integration of Trimble Ri and HP SitePrint can transform the layout process on complex construction sites with pinpoint accuracy, and in a fraction of the time," said Aviad Almagor, vice president of technology innovation, Trimble. "This is an opportunity for layout contractors to improve accuracy and productivity and handle more projects with the same size of team."
OneCharge Announces Battery Partnerships
OneCharge Inc., a provider of lithium motive batteries for the material handling industry, and India’s Nexilon Energy Systems Private Limited, part of the Patel Group, announced that the companies have entered into a strategic partnership.
OneCharge and Nexilon Energy Systems formed an all-India exclusive joint venture partnership to design, manufacture and sell lithium batteries for material handling equipment and ground support equipment in India. The joint venture entity is known as Elixir Auto Tech Private Limited.
OneCharge and the Patel Group are jointly committed to building an India-focused product range of industrial lithium batteries that are “Made in India, for India” with U.S. technology.
“This partnership is a great opportunity for advancing our market-leading lithium battery technology to improve material handling operations in India. OneCharge batteries are already available in the USA, Canada, and across Latin America, and now Nexilon is bringing this technology to its customers in the Indian Ocean Region,” said Tim Karimov, President of OneCharge. “We have been focusing on promoting lithium batteries for use in material handling equipment for over eight years and are happy to see the growing acceptance of our technology in this strategic market.”
A growing number of companies use OneCharge batteries, which the company offers in over 650 models. Every OneCharge battery includes a data processing module that tracks numerous operational parameters. It allows the system to collect and analyze significant volumes of data, enabling value-adding services for the customers. Such services can range from daily usage reports to Energy as a Service (EaaS) offerings, which are sometimes referred to as “power by the hour.”
“The Indian market is ready for a fast adoption of the proven advanced lithium battery technology,” said Nidheesh M. Patel, president of Nexilon and third-generation co-owner of Patel Group. “We are really excited about the prospects of our Joint Venture partnership, which allows us access to OneCharge’s advanced, USA-developed lithium battery technology. Improving the efficiency of operations by introducing cleaner and safer technology is attractive to any business operating forklifts in India, and we already see a lot of interest in US technology-backed lithium batteries from our partners and customers across the Indian Ocean Region.”
Additionally, Hyundai Material Handling and OneCharge have entered into a strategic partnership to provide advanced lithium ion (Li-ion) battery technology to Hyundai’s North American dealer network and their customers.
Research indicates that by 2030 70% of all electric forklifts will be powered by Li-ion batteries, which offer an economical, efficient alternative to older lead-acid batteries. With this new partnership, Hyundai will be able to offer Li-ion batteries that need no daily maintenance while delivering a longer lifespan and lower operating costs.
“Hyundai Material Handling is proud to partner with OneCharge, Inc.,” said Lewis Byers, vice president of Hyundai Material Handling, North America. “The demand for Li-ion power supply in the forklift industry is growing at a rapid rate and matching a Hyundai forklift with OneCharge Li-ion power gives our dealers and their customers an unrivaled combination.”
OneCharge Li-ion batteries have full communications integration with Hyundai’s 9U Series of electric forklifts. This plug-and-play configuration allows the battery to seamlessly integrate with the truck. The result is that Hyundai’s state-of-the-art interactive instrument cluster retains its full functionality monitoring the battery state of charge and low battery warning system.
Proemion Announces €33.5M Growth Investment
Proemion, a technology company creating hardware-enabled software solutions to connect mobile machines with humans and the cloud announced a €33.5 million growth investment from Battery Ventures, a technology-focused investment firm. In July, Battery announced new, global funds capitalized at a combined $3.8 billion.
Family-owned since its founding in 1987, Proemion creates connectivity solutions with proprietary telematics control units and accompanying cloud-based software. Proemion customers include original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and mixed-fleet companies who use Proemion’s telematics solutions to operate machinery more efficiently through the use of remote diagnostics and analytics. Specifically, the technology allows customers—who operate in industries including construction, agriculture, logistics, and natural resources—to better manage equipment, plan maintenance, save fuel costs, monitor CO2 emissions, and more.
The predictive capabilities of Proemion telematics allow global customers to increase productivity with robust, cloud-based remote diagnostics while reducing operational costs and downtime. With this growth investment from Battery—and anticipated future capital infusions from Battery and the founders—Proemion will expand international operations, execute other organic-growth initiatives and pursue acquisitions. As part of this transition, Robert Thomas Michaelides, current Proemion COO, will assume the role of chief executive officer.
“The ability to maintain fleets more efficiently and plan for machine maintenance and service also helps Proemion’s customers manage supply-chain disruptions, which have become more prevalent lately,” noted Battery Ventures Private Equity Partner Dave Tabors.
As part of the investment, Battery’s Max-Julian Kaye is also joining Proemion’s board.
Evercam Series A Funding Announcement
Evercam has announced that it has raised a total of €8 million investment to help further grow its presence in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. The round was led by Richard Hayes, Calista Direct Investors S.A. (EuroBIM) and Eoghan Quigley, alongside a stellar consortium of investors, and follow-on investment from Swisspost Ventures and Elkstone Partners.
Evercam began as a solution for time-lapsing construction projects and has evolved into a tool used on many construction projects. Evercam combines both the digital plan data (4D BIM) and the current reality (fixed position cameras, drone and 360° cameras) and turns it into actionable insights for the entire project team.
Hiboo Launches Pilot Project With Ritchie Bros.
Hiboo, which analyzes the data of industrial assets, and Ritchie Bros, an online sellers of second-hand construction equipment, are working together on certain batches of machines from the rental company ENCO so as to share the history of machine data certified by the manufacturers.
Ritchie Bros has transformed its business model in order to adapt to selling exclusively online, has initiated a pilot project with technology from Hiboo – acting as a trusted third party – to provide buyers with certified data from the manufacturer and make it easier for them to decide on what to purchase. They will now have access to data from the hour meter, the odometer and the “error code” of machines before they are sold.
By providing more transparency in this way with regard to the condition of machinery, Ritchie Bros intends to establish greater trust between sellers and buyers. The data collected and provided by Hiboo will be made directly available on Ritchie Bros’ webpage presenting the equipment for sale. Once purchased, the owner will have “freemium” access to the Hiboo application, by means of which he or she can control the performance or the energy consumption of the equipment.
The rental company ENCO, which is active in the digital sphere, is the first data custodian of Ritchie Bros to have authorized access to the data in order to increase the level of purchasers’ confidence in its equipment. Since the pilot project began in July 2022, data certified by Hiboo has already been passed on to dozens of buyers.
Capital One Bank Closes $2.1B Revolving Credit Facility for EquipmentShare
Capital One announced that it has served as administrative agent for an amended and restated credit facility for EquipmentShare, a nationwide construction solutions provider. EquipmentShare will use the facility, which increased its borrowing capacity from $1.2 billion to $2.1 billion, to expand its footprint and finance further growth of the company. The revolver has a $1 billion accordion option.
In August 2021, Capital One served as the lead arranger and administrative agent for EquipmentShare’s original line of credit. Since that time, EquipmentShare has entered a number of new markets nationwide and served thousands of new customers.
“This increased Asset Based Lending facility led by Capital One will allow EquipmentShare to expand our nationwide footprint,” said Trevor Schauenberg, EquipmentShare’s CFO. “This liquidity will enable EquipmentShare to continue to deliver productivity and value to our customers and the construction industry.”
Avvir Joins Hexagon AB, Announces New Integrations
Avvir, a reality analysis company providing a system of record for buildings to the construction industry, recently announced that it has joined the Geosystems division of Hexagon AB, to strengthen its Smart Digital Reality capabilities. By integrating with Hexagon, Avvir gained access to reality capture solutions and services allowing the company to continue developing solutions for an autonomous workflow approach to construction. On the heels of that announcement, Avvir is announcing the launch of a new integration with DroneDeploy, and enhancements to its financial tracking product.
Avvir is launching Avvir Cost Beta to support construction site managers in their efforts to track project and scope costs against their Schedule of Values, providing financial visibility to the actual earned value. Avvir Cost also allows users to view comments within the 3D viewer of the project to visually contextualize subcontractor’s justifications of costs with a detailed analysis of the work that’s been completed. Understanding that some costs are sensitive, subcontractors within the platform will only be able to view tracking details that they are granted explicit permissions to.
Avvir has also integrated with DroneDeploy to allow users of that technology to integrate their existing images into Avvir’s system, eliminating the need to duplicate any work.
“Everything we build at Avvir is designed to enable smarter construction sites. Access to Hexagon has allowed us to accelerate our product development, enabling us to deliver more value to our users more quickly,” said Matt Curry, head of product at Avvir. “Looking ahead we’re excited to continue to tap what’s now in our disposal to better integrate with best-in-class solutions offered by Hexagon to make our experience even more seamless.”
In addition to Avvir Cost and the DoneDeploy integration, Avvir has also made other product updates aimed at improving the overall workflow for construction industry professionals. Some of these updates include improvements to quality control workflows that enable seamless corrections between Avvir and other platforms like Revizto, a Do Not Track option, to allow users to opt out of tracking unnecessary items and algorithm performance improvements to improve the prediction ability.
StructionSite Acquired by DroneDeploy
StructionSite has entered into an agreement to be acquired by DroneDeploy. This marks a significant step toward achieving the two companies’ collective missions. For customers of both products, you can expect:
- A unified reality capture platform: An integrated experience that enables you to understand the reality of your sites from the air and ground, exterior and interior, in one platform.
- An accelerated roadmap: By combining the technologies, resources and expertise of the two teams, you can expect an acceleration of our joint reality capture roadmap.
- More automation, sooner: The industries we serve have been waiting to automate manual tasks through the deployment of autonomous aerial and ground robots. Combining the advanced ground capture capabilities from StructionSite, with DroneDeploy’s experience with robotic automation, the vision of autonomous mobile robots being deployed on schedule at scale will also be accelerated.
Togal.AI Wins Another VC Competition, Announces Partnership
Miami-based Togal.AI, a company bringing artificial intelligence to construction, has won yet another pitch competition with venture capitalists. Big Blue Innovations announced that Togal.AI has won first place in its pitch competition with Harbright Ventures, a Raleigh-based venture capital firm.
Togal uses machine learning to automatically calculate the square footage of areas and complete full takeoffs. It manages complex construction documents with online collaboration, to compress weeks of work into seconds. Estimators at Coastal Construction, the largest General Contractor in Florida, are using Togal. It’s cut their workload by 40%, saving about $1 million per year and 10,000 hours of work.
Togal.AI also recently took first place, out of thousands of startups, in the eMerge Americas Startup Competition judged by Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary. That prize was a $420,000 investment. Togal has also made BuiltWorlds’ Pre-Construction 50 List two years in a row, which names the hottest, construction-tech startups in the world.
Meanwhile, Togal.AI has formed a partnership with construction estimating software developer eTakeoff. The partnership will integrate Togal.AI’s artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies with eTakeoff Dimension.
eTakeoff Dimension is a complete electronic viewer and PDF takeoff software solution for estimators across all construction disciplines.
Togal.AI’s algorithm uses AIA measurement standards to automatically detect, label, and measure project spaces in mere seconds. Plans that once took weeks to complete can now be completed in minutes. Its machine learning engine remembers edits and anticipates corrections, so projects will become more tailored to the needs of the user. Freeing estimators of more tedious and time-consuming tasks empowers them to be more strategic, helping their clients save money and build better jobs.
