Cyprus-based proptech startup buildbuild which develops software for managing construction projects and increasing their marginality in the SMB sector has raised €1.1 million in investments from the Luxembourg-based company Lvl Group SARL. The funds will be used to accelerate product development, marketing, and scaling efforts, and the A round is planned for the fall of 2024.
The company is working on a platform that enables SMB construction companies that engage in everything from apartment repairs and construction of single-family homes to general contracts in residential, commercial, and road construction to compete with major industry players. The software helps to increase profits, providing online information about construction and budget in real-time, without the need to maintain a large back office.
Marko Mihić Jeftić, CEO of buildbuild, says: “Construction is one of this century’s main themes. The UN forecasts that by the end of the century, the world’s population will reach 11-12 billion. Statistics tell us that the richer the country, the more residential square meters per person it has. Over the next one hundred years, we will have to build as much as we’ve done throughout our history. It is a great challenge”.
The CEO of buildbuild remembers that when he studied architecture at the university, he was inspired by the tech entrepreneurs who were changing the world. He began to think about things he could do to make the process of home construction better. “In the process of studying construction, I saw one of the sector’s main problems on full display: we are talking about organizing actual work at the construction site. It hasn’t changed much since the Egyptians built their pyramids and remains ineffective. I decided to change this situation by giving each participant in the construction process a convenient instrument with equitable access to information so that everyone knows clearly what must be done.”
The company’s clear advantage over its market competitors is the simplicity of its implementation: all construction staff can master the platform quickly and easily, which is essential in the SMB segment. The developers also stress that in creating the platform, they were primarily focused on the main business process of their audience — execution of work at the construction site — while the competitors are RFI-centered.
The company’s flagship product, a web app for project management, enables users to create cost sheets, track work execution, payments, and cash flow gaps. There is also a mobile app for contractors, which they can use to study the quality criteria and cost of work, issue invoices, and track payments. The application is available in the AppStore, Google Play Market, and Huawei AppGallery. buildbuild uses a subscription model.
buildbuild was founded in 2021 by Marko Mihić Jeftić. He had earlier worked on construction startups of a major European real estate developer as an in-house founder. The project’s Advisory Board includes David Basulto, CEO of ArchDaily. Today, the company is testing its product on the markets of Great Britain, Cyprus, UAE, India, Malaysia, Serbia, and South Africa. The product was tested privately by 15 clients over a period of two years. The app is now sold openly, and buildbuild expects at least 100 active subscribers by year-end. The company estimates the total market volume for its platform at €5.1 billion.
David Basulto, CEO of ArchDaily, says: “Architects are finding new ways to have a wider impact on the built environment, and they are leading the next generation of tech startups that will make architecture and construction accessible, democratic, and scalable.”
