Following sharp downturn, contech funding stabilizes

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Contech is expected to hold steady through this year, even in the face of economic uncertainty worldwide. · Construction Dive · AzmanL via Getty Images

Matthew Thibault

Mon, Jan 27, 2025, 3:42 AM 3 min read

Following a 44% downturn in construction technology investment in 2023, the contech funding ecosystem seems to have stabilized last year, according to a report from Cemex Ventures.
Total investment in the space grew marginally year over year, up 2% from $3 billion in 2023 to $3.1 billion in 2024, according to the report from the contech-focused venture capital arm of Monterrey, Mexico-based building materials firm Cemex.
However, data indicated that investors were much more active in 2024 — investors and startups in the sector completed 325 deals in 2024, compared to 236 deals in 2023.

Dive Insight:

Construction also continues to grow as a total share of the overall venture capital market, according to the report. Contech made up more than 1.1% of total VC spend in 2024, compared to 1.06% in 2023 and 0.6% in 2019.

Cemex Ventures broke down its 2024 funding analysis into four categories:

Enhanced productivity: Programs and offerings that help with fields such as project design and budgeting, digital twins and BIM, asset maintenance and tools that use artificial intelligence, raised approximately $1.5 billion.
Green construction: Processes, products and services that help mitigate construction’s negative environmental impacts, including carbon capture and sustainable materials, garnered approximately $772 million.
Future of construction: Products and platforms that shape the future of the industry, such as robotics, 3D printing and optimized materials manufacturing, reeled in approximately $535 million.
Construction supply chain: Programs and offerings that help contractors manage their supply chains, including marketplaces, materials tracking and last-mile platforms, attracted approximately $231 million.

Notably, three of the categories experienced year-over-year declines in investment funding. Only enhanced productivity firms raised more money than in 2023, more than doubling the subsector’s year-over-year funding total.

AI on the rise

The category benefited from a brewing AI arms race that has contractors moving quickly to adopt the technology to stay ahead of the curve and garner an advantage over their peers in the marketplace.

Cemex Ventures’ report noted that while 2024 was a strong year for AI, 2025 promises to take the race even further. The tech accounted for 28% of transactions in 2024 and 37% of total contech deal volume, according to the report.