Modulize secures £1.5million in funding for offsite construction SaaS platform

Modulize, the collaborative software solution for offsite construction that optimises design, planning, and procurement, has raised a €1.9 million (£1.5m) Seed round led by KOMPAS, with participation from Pi Labs, Investinor, real estate developer Møller Eiendom, and Antler.

The funding will allow Modulize to develop its product and grow its existing organisation as it expands into different European markets.

Modulize was founded by Lucas Carstens, Olav Ljosland and Håkon Kalbakk in November 2020 in Oslo, to support modular construction and prefabrication, collectively referred to as offsite construction. The company’s software supports cost estimation and bidding, project planning, and building design itemisation.

Its first product – focused on cost estimation and bidding – is already deployed and available for users. The platform automates calculations from 2D drawings and 3D building models that are imported, rendered and analysed to extract all the information a manufacturer needs to accurately price a quote for a contractor.

The company’s longer-term ambition is to serve other market participants, such as architects and developers, by optimising building plans for offsite construction through to design, and connecting contractors directly to the right manufacturers. Modulize’s goal is to develop a digital platform for the offsite construction industry in order to create more sustainable building methods.

With the construction industry collectively responsible for 40% of global CO2 emissions, there is a significant demand for more sustainable methods of building. An ever-growing housing deficit, skilled labour shortages for onsite construction and diminishing housing affordability have put greater pressure on the sector to innovate. The increasing technological maturity of prefabricated buildings, as well as the application of new technologies like 3D printing and digital collaboration are converging with sustainability to accelerate the growth of offsite construction, which can reduce construction waste by as much as 90%.

Modulize is well-positioned to benefit from the increasing adoption of digital workflow solutions by the construction industry, and the need of developers, architects and offsite manufacturers to collaborate on a single platform in real-time.

Lucas Carstens, CEO at Modulize says: “Onsite construction is prone to over-ordering materials to avoid delaying the building works, but this inevitably leads to waste – having the various building elements produced in a factory avoids this and allows for more efficient use of materials. Offsite construction has been proven to be faster and cheaper, while producing far less waste.

“Our work aims to provide a foundation for the entire construction ecosystem to adopt this approach. The investment we’ve received will enable us to recruit talent, improve our products, expand our offering and reduce the environmental impact of the sector.”

Sebastian Peck, Partner at KOMPAS says: “The fundamental reason underpinning our investment in Modulize is due to the highly fragmented nature of the offsite construction industry. The current landscape provides ideal conditions to develop a solution that automates key business processes, supporting the sector in its digital transformation and making the industry more efficient.

“Offsite construction methods have been shown to be significantly more sustainable than traditional onsite construction. The adoption of digital technology by the sector supports much greater versatility in building design, a higher degree of automation in the manufacturing process, and more efficient back-office processes. Modulize is extremely well-placed to benefit from these trends and we look forward to seeing their growth.”