Monumental – a robotics startup on a mission to solve the labor, cost, and sustainability challenges crippling the global construction industry – announced it has raised $25 million in funding led by Plural and Hummingbird. Northzone, Foundamental, NP-Hard Ventures and Material Ventures, and other high-profile angel investors also joined the round. This funding round will help Monumental grow its world-class team of hardware and software engineers, scale the number of robots it can deploy on sites across Europe and increase the types of blocks and construction tasks the robots can manage.
Launched by serial entrepreneurs Salar al Khafaji (CEO) and Sebastiaan Visser (CTO), former founders of Silk (acquired by Palantir in 2016), Monumental builds construction robots. And its small, electric, agile, autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs) move freely around the rough terrain of building sites to help contractors address labor shortages and rising costs, with an initial focus on bricklaying.
Across Europe, over half (57%) of countries are facing a bricklayer shortage. In the UK alone, there’s an estimated shortfall of 75,000 bricklayers required to build the 300,000 houses needed annually by 2025, while 82 million Europeans are overburdened and at risk of homelessness due to a lack of affordable housing. All of which is holding back productivity in the global construction industry.
Monumental’s robots were built to solve these needs. Fitted with advanced sensors, sophisticated computer vision and small cranes, each Monumental robot can place bricks and mortar in industrial and residential walls with human-level precision, accuracy and efficiency. And each is operated by Monumental’s AI-powered software, Atrium, and is small enough to go anywhere a human can, whether that’s in tight corners, through doorways, or in a van.
Contractors hire Monumental as subcontractors to bring in its robots to work as bricklayers autonomously, across the site and alongside humans. And this removes the financial risk to contractors involved in purchasing and operating the machines while also reducing the technical risk of having to learn and validate the tech.
Following pilot test cases in the Netherlands, Monumental completed its first large-scale 15-meter facade for an office and warehouse building last year. And it has since deployed its robots on several other projects, including social housing and has partnerships with multiple top 25 general contractors.
KEY QUOTES:
“The construction industry is one of the largest and most important in the world, yet it’s held back by global labour shortages and rising supply chain costs. At Monumental, we’re working to help the industry meet these challenges. Our agile, intelligent, and adaptable robots and software blend human expertise with robotic efficiency in a way that the industry has never seen before. They will revolutionise not just how buildings are constructed but transform the economics of the construction industry itself. We’re delighted to have this stellar team of investors joining us on this mission.”
- Salar al Khafaji, co-founder and CEO at Monumental
“Monumental’s approach is the perfect coming together of ambition and expertise, the rising power and impact of AI, and the shrinking cost and size of cutting-edge hardware to address an industry that’s at breaking point. Something significant has to happen if we’re to meet the housing demands of millions and reduce the economic and environmental burden of the built world and Monumental is going to be something significant.”
- Sten Tamkivi, Partner at Plural
“Europe’s infrastructure has been suffering from the shortage of skilled labourers for years and we’re excited to support Monumental and its innovative approach to solving this challenge. Monumental’s robots won’t just improve efficiencies on building sites, but the technology has the potential to enhance safety, optimise workflows and attract more talent into the field who are excited to learn new skills. We’re confident Monumental will deliver long-term benefits for the industry and society as a whole.”
- Firat Ileri, Partner at Hummingbird
