We’re excited to share our investment in BuildAi - construction AI software delivering safer, faster and more cost-effective construction.

Galileo invested in BuildAi’s $1.9m seed round. We are proud to be backing Kristian alongside construction luminaries Marr Contracting (The Men From Marr’s), Total Construction Pty Ltd, Preston Group CEO Markus Preston, Angus Kennard, and Stuart Ford.

Why we invested

We love the theme of using AI/ML to revolutionise old industries and BuildAi is a great example of this!

BuildAi will be our second investment in the construction-tech sector (Australia has many entrepreneurs in this sector) and as soon as we met Kristian we could see his connection to the problem and global ambition to bring positive change to an industry rife with out-of-date tools and processes.

BuildAi combines the latest advancements in sensor tech, machine vision and software to automatically illuminate what exactly is going on in major construction projects on a daily basis. Every day a project is delayed can cost upwards of $300k and yet most projects are managed manually on spreadsheets and information that is out of date by the time it reaches the project managers.

Kristian combines both first-hand experience with the problem, passion to bring industry-wide change and global ambition with compelling technology that is the most advanced in the world.

About the first-time founder Kristian Butcher

BuildAi was founded by Kristian Butcher after first-hand witnessing the productivity loss on sites with margins under pressure. Kristian could see the forces of these stressful environments in an already high-risk industry. Additionally, he felt how much it impacted the workers' mental health, especially on long 6 day working weeks out on site.  

Starting his own family, it hit home how out of date the construction industry was. Choosing this career meant missing out on such valuable moments with a new family—adding to it -  working in an industry that is so inefficient and overdue for a technology revolution.

Why now?

Despite the massive technological advancements that we’ve seen in other sectors, the construction industry hasn’t had a major shift in technology over the last 20 years.
Where manufacturing productivity has grown by 3.6%, construction productivity growth is sitting below 1%. In Australia alone the addressable market is $23bn, US - $1,367bn, and UK - $146bn.

BuildAI’s vision is to do for the construction industry what Apple has done for phones – The AI technology is a quantum leap forward from current manual methods akin to upgrading from a Nokia to a smartphone.

What can you do now that you couldn’t before?

Like self-driving cars, BuildAi uses cameras to monitor site activities including crane activities, materials logistics and workers' movements. It then relays that data to an AI system that crunches the numbers in real-time onto a cloud-based dashboard.

What impressed us?

Firstly, we were inspired by his vision to create an efficient and safe global construction industry with the mental health of workers in mind.

Secondly, his ability to showcase his execution skills through his traction was impressive. Kristian was able to show two significant pilots completed in Sydney Olympic Park and St Leonards Square, new customer sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Dallas, AND a pipeline of major contractors and developers across several other global locations.

TLDR, tell me in a meme:

Stay-tuned for our next investment announcement!

If you’re an emerging founder looking to raise the first seed round we want to hear from you! Apply today and we’ll aim to get back to you within 72 hours and with real feedback from a real human.