Concrete.ai is a company using generative AI to optimize concrete mix designs for any combination of cost, performance, and carbon reduction, which can save concrete producers millions of dollars and cut carbon by up to 30% in just one month. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Concrete.ai CEO Alex Hall to learn more about the company.
Alex Hall’s Background
What is Alex Hall’s background? Hall said:
“My journey in the concrete industry spans over 25 years, covering construction, finance, and operations. During my 18-year tenure at Holcim, I weathered a financial storm (2007 – 2011) as Aggregate and Readymix General Manager, and then I headed up EH&S before leading the performance group for the Readymix businesses. My next chapter led me to Suffolk Construction, where I served as the Executive Vice President for four years, steering EH&S and Management Systems. In addition to my corporate roles, I’ve served as an Advisory Board Member at CarbonBuilt, focusing on manufacturing processes and carbon revenue models.”
“Right now, many tech startups are exploring AI, and while there’s a lot of potential, some products seem to create new problems. Our company’s AI, however, has been developed for over a decade in collaboration with concrete producers, so we know it’s addressing real issues faced in the industry. As CEO, my job is to keep us innovating and expanding our offerings to meet our customers’ evolving needs. I dedicate a lot of time to building relationships with customers, investors, and advisors, always pursuing growth opportunities. By setting the overall vision and direction for the company, I ensure we stay on track to achieve our mission of helping concrete producers create lower-carbon concrete using AI.”
Favorite Memory
What has been Hall’s favorite memory working for the company so far? Hall reflected:
“There are countless unforgettable memories from this journey, but none quite as exhilarating as tearing through the chaotic streets of Mumbai with co-founder Mathieu Bauchy on our way to present at a recent expo! However, two moments stand out above the rest. One was the amazing honor of being named the most innovative product of the year by the prestigious NRMCA. This recognition was especially meaningful amidst fierce competition from other groundbreaking products. The other pivotal moment was signing our first commercial agreement, a culmination of years of tireless dedication from our team. It was a validation of our vision, a monumental achievement that reaffirmed our path forward.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Hall explained:
“Our technology was built based on ten years of research at UCLA’s Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, brought to life by a team of experts in construction, software development, artificial intelligence, and material science.”
“Our GenAI platform, Concrete Copilot, empowers concrete producers to rapidly select the optimal concrete recipe for any application, predicting performance within seconds. It integrates with producers’ current and historical data, streamlining the design process from months to minutes and allowing quick adaptation to shifts in material availability or cost.”
Problem Being Solved
What problem is Concrete.ai solving? Hall noted:
“Mix optimization is crucial to any concrete producer’s success, but the design process has become increasingly difficult with today’s complexity of supply chains and constant changes in material types and costs. And with a growing number of policies mandating low-embodied carbon material for construction projects, there’s a growing demand from developers, owners, producers, and General Contractors for innovative, sustainable solutions, specifically within concrete production – which is responsible for 9% of worldwide emissions.”
”That’s where we come in. Concrete.ai helps producers cut carbon emissions and use new, eco-friendly materials without sacrificing performance or raising costs.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Hall and the team faced in building the company? Hall acknowledged:
“Developing Concrete.ai came with several challenges, including processing vast amounts of data, integrating AI into an industry traditionally reliant on manual methods, and ensuring robust data security.”
“There is a prevalent apprehension surrounding AI in technical roles like Quality Control (QC) across various industries, including both the ready mix and precast concrete industries. Some perceive AI as potentially replacing the crucial tasks of design and optimization traditionally handled by QC teams. However, drawing on our extensive experience in the ready mix business, we swiftly recognized that our solution does not seek to replace human expertise but rather enhance it. Hence, we aptly named our software ‘Concrete Copilot.’”
”This innovative AI operates discreetly in the background, constantly pinpointing opportunities for improvement. It then alerts the human operator—the pilot—when these opportunities arise. The human experts, armed with their nuanced understanding of client preferences (which the AI can’t replicate), can then make informed decisions to ensure that clients receive precisely what they envision. This collaborative approach ensures that AI serves as a valuable assistant rather than a substitute, empowering human judgment and expertise in delivering superior outcomes.”
Evolution Of Concrete.ai’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Hall noted:
“Our technology has seen significant growth, including:
— Notification center to highlight issues and opportunities
— Support for international units/currencies/number formats
— Ability to track mix design overdesign/underdesign in bulk—and accordingly refine them
— Screen to prescribe the largest opportunities for optimizations and ‘reoptimizations’
— Ability to manage projects and spec reviews
— Ability to predict the effect of a variation in a mix design formulation on its performance
— Mix designs search engine
— Integration with CommandQC
— Ability to generate optimized mix designs from scratch based on targeted performance and constraints
— Ability to track and compare the efficiency of concrete plants
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Hall cited:
“In 2023, we completed extensive field testing with producers across the US in which the platform-optimized mix designs used in over 2,000,000 cubic yards of concrete – enough concrete to fill 681 Olympic-size swimming pools. The average material savings were $5.04/cubic yard, and the average carbon reduction was 30%. For most producers, these results were seen within just one month of activating the platform.”
Customer Success Stories
Upon asking Hall about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“We’re proud to be partnering with Prairie Materials, the operator and owner of ready-mix concrete plants and aggregate facilities in the Midwest. This collaboration began with small-scale plant optimizations and has since expanded to cover the majority of Prairie’s plants, particularly in crucial markets like the Chicagoland region. Prairie achieved a consistent 30% reduction in carbon emissions while reducing material costs.”
Funding
After asking Hall about the company’s funding, he revealed:
“We’ve raised $2 million in pre-seed funding, with participation from venture capital entities, family offices and angel investors.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Hall assessed:
”The global concrete market has a TAM of around $1.1 trillion, or around 11 billion cubic meters annually at around $100 / m3. If carbon revenue generation opportunities are taken into account, SAM would be in the order of $20- $25 billion.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Concrete.ai from its competition? Hall affirmed:
“At Concrete.ai, our approach is unique – by working within a producer’s existing supply chains, production and data systems, we avoid the need for external testing and use GenAI for precision. Competitors often focus on sacrificial hardware (which they supply) or their own material testing services, while our solution is entirely a software focus that is specialized to address the specific needs of existing concrete design processes. This also allows us to be a complement to some of the exciting new material technologies that are fast coming online. We are material supplier agnostic and only look to provide our client with the best solution based on the materials they have access to.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Hall concluded:
“We aim to broaden our reach by expanding into new markets and regions, targeting a diverse range of customers in the construction industry. Our ultimate goal is to reduce concrete’s global carbon footprint by 500 million tons each year.”
