Swapp, a company that leverages AI for construction planning, today announced that it raised $7 million in venture capital. The company plans to put the funds toward “continued market expansion” and growing its platform’s AI capabilities.
The construction industry and its broader ecosystem erects buildings, infrastructure, and industrial structures that form the foundation of whole economies. Private-equity firms raised more than $388 billion to fund infrastructure projects, including $100 billion in 2019 alone, a 24% increase from 2018. But construction, including various conception, architectural design, and engineering processes, requires consulting with experts including architects, engineers, and land surveyors.
Swapp, which former Autodesk Israel CEO Eitan Tsarfati cofounded in 2019, claims its AI-powered platform eliminates the need to work with outside experts by streamlining the construction planning phase. After uploading site, floor drawings, and requirements for the exterior or interior of a project, Swapp customers receive a selection of algorithmically generated planning options to maximize building efficiency and minimize construction costs.
Swapp’s product automates tasks like initial mass planning and analyzing architectural typologies, and it integrates with third-party geographic information platforms and different data sources from locations across the globe. All data relevant to a project is visualized in a dashboard that users can view on the web.
Swapp claims to count among its customers some of the largest construction companies and real estate developers in the U.S., U.K. and Israel, including U.S.’ Hines, U.K.’s Willmott Dixon, and Israel’s largest construction and infrastructure company Shikun & Binui.
“Swapp’s AI solution is a game-changer in the field of real estate development and construction-planning,” Tsarfati said in a statement. “For the first time in the history of construction, real estate developers and construction companies can use a single platform to build their entire construction planning project and begin work within weeks instead of 9-12 months. We are already working … to replace the slow, tedious, and inflexible construction planning process with our smart, efficient, and flexible, planning solution. This investment will help us grow our customer base and expand our AI capabilities to advance the future of construction planning.”
Point72 Ventures and Entrée Capital co-led the seed round in Swapp, which has offices in Tel Aviv as well as London. “We believe Swapp has the ability to reinvent architecture by automating the entire construction planning process,” Daniel Gwak, partner at Point72 Ventures, said. “Swapp’s AI-powered platform is designed to help modernize real estate development by simplifying the slow and fragmented planning process, allowing developers to create a full set of architectural plans within weeks. We are pleased to support their continued growth.”
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