Prolo provides AI-powered Procurement-as-a-Service for small and medium-sized construction firms. Contractors can request materials or plant hire through WhatsApp, email, or phone, after which Prolo searches more than 185 suppliers, secures trade rates, and handles quote chasing, paperwork, and site logistics. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Prolo Founder and CEO James Morris-Manuel to learn more.
James Morris-Manuel’s Background
When asked about his background and the experiences that led him to establish Prolo, Morris-Manuel shared:
My journey began in commercial real estate, where I worked for Cushman & Wakefield before I spotted an opportunity that changed everything. I founded Virtual Walkthrough, which was essentially Google Street View for the inside of buildings. It scaled rapidly to become the European market leader in its space, culminating in a successful acquisition by Matterport in 2016.
After this, I headed up Matterport EMEA as Managing Director for seven years, expanding the business into 175 countries and 15 different verticals. This culminated in taking the company public in 2021, when I stayed on as Managing Director of the public business.
Now, I’m applying these lessons as the Founder of Prolo, where we’re revolutionizing the construction procurement industry through technology. By addressing inefficiencies in one of the world’s least digitized sectors, we’re reducing wasted time by 1.5 days per week and significantly cutting building costs.
How Prolo Started
When discussing how the idea for Prolo came together, Morris-Manuel explained:
The idea for the business was really the convergence of my personal background and a massive market gap. I grew up in a construction family. My parents were developers, and my brother still is, so I’ve always understood the industry’s daily struggles firsthand.
Later, during my time at Matterport, we worked closely with construction firms, and the broader business opportunity became undeniable. McKinsey ranks construction as the second-least-digitized sector globally, yet it drives a huge amount of gross merchandise value, accounting for roughly 7% of the UK’s GDP. It isn’t a traditionally “sexy” space, which means it is often overlooked by technology innovators. But to me, combining those deep-rooted industry challenges with a lack of digital infrastructure revealed a monumental opportunity hiding in plain sight.
Building A Team-First Culture
When asked about his favorite memories from working at Prolo, Morris-Manuel reflected:
I’ve loved building this business, but the real highlight is undoubtedly our incredible team. There is a common adage in business that you should always put the customer first, but I’ve always believed the reality is slightly different. If you put your team first, customer satisfaction follows naturally by default. Fostering that culture and watching our team thrive is deeply rewarding.
From a commercial perspective, another distinct and proud memory for me was a specific moment when we were analyzing our performance data. We realized that a significant portion of our customers were consistently increasing their spending with us over time. As a leader, that is the ultimate validation. It proved that we were genuinely earning their trust and that they confidently viewed us as a partner worth diverting more of their revenue toward.
AI-Powered Procurement-As-A-Service
When describing Prolo’s core products and features, Morris-Manuel detailed:
Prolo offers AI-powered Procurement-as-a-Service tailored for small and medium-sized construction firms. Contractors simply request materials or plant hire through WhatsApp, email, or phone, and Prolo scans more than 185 suppliers to secure the best trade rates. We then handle all quote chasing, paperwork, and site logistics from end to end while also providing flexible credit terms of up to 90 days to support project cash flow.
Construction Industry Volatility
When asked about challenges facing the construction sector and how Prolo is helping companies address them, Morris-Manuel observed:
One of the most significant challenges our entire sector faces is the inherent financial volatility of the market. To give you a sense of the scale, the construction industry consistently accounts for roughly 17% of all corporate insolvencies in the UK. It is, quite frankly, a minefield of risk for the businesses operating within it.
However, we don’t just view this as an industry challenge. We see it as a tremendous opportunity and the fundamental reason our company exists. We are here to change that narrative. By providing the right digital infrastructure and support, our mission is to help construction firms navigate that volatility, protect their margins, and build fundamentally resilient businesses. We want to empower them to thrive in an unpredictable environment rather than become just another statistic.
Technology Evolution
When discussing how Prolo’s technology has evolved since launching, Morris-Manuel described:
When we launched, we naturally started from the ground up, doing everything manually. Today, we are in a very strong position, firmly solidifying our product-market fit and actively building toward a completely end-to-end technological offering.
We are transparent about the fact that we aren’t entirely there just yet. We still intentionally maintain a “human in the loop” across several processes to ensure precision and quality for our clients. However, what is incredibly exciting is the pace of our current evolution. By adopting new agentic AI workflows to rapidly generate code and accelerate our development cycles, the speed at which we are closing the gap toward that fully automated, end-to-end vision is quite extraordinary.
Major Company Milestones
When asked about Prolo’s most significant milestones, Morris-Manuel highlighted:
We have achieved several pivotal milestones on our journey so far. From a commercial standpoint, successfully securing our fundraising and consistently winning new business have been huge validations of our model. We are now incredibly proud to partner with more than 50 customers. On the supply side, we have integrated more than 185 distinct supplier brands into our platform, and because those are parent brands, they actually represent a vastly larger network of individual branches.
However, equally important to our commercial traction has been our internal growth. A major milestone for me as a leader has been thoughtfully building out our team. We have worked hard to ensure we have robust, high-caliber coverage across every core function of the organization, laying a very strong foundation for our next phase of scale.
Customer Success Stories
When invited to share specific examples of Prolo’s impact on construction companies, Morris-Manuel recounted:
Prolo’s impact is well-documented across the construction sector, with clients noting significant improvements in both efficiency and cost. Mike Laffan, an estimator for The Property Crew, highlighted how Prolo saved his team £750 on a single electrical order compared with its regular suppliers while also freeing up valuable office resources. Similarly, Tamara Alonso, Commercial Director at Integral Builders, credited Prolo with dramatically streamlining the company’s purchasing process and improving its cash flow through our flexible credit facilities. Across various roles, from site managers to directors, clients consistently report that Prolo acts as a reliable one-stop shop that saves substantial time and money on every project.
£4.2 Million Raised
When asked about Prolo’s funding and revenue metrics, Morris-Manuel reported:
I am pleased to say that our core key performance indicators are trending consistently upward on a month-over-month basis, which is a strong testament to our current momentum.
Regarding our funding, we are very proud of the £4.2 million we have successfully raised to date. We are highly disciplined in how we deploy this capital, channeling it directly into two strategic pillars of the business.
The first is our product and technology. We are investing deeply in our engineering capabilities to accelerate feature development, build out new functionality, and refine our codebase. The second pillar is our go-to-market strategy. We are actively scaling our sales and marketing efforts to activate our key growth levers and drive continued expansion in the market.
£74 Billion Market Opportunity
When discussing the total addressable market Prolo is pursuing, Morris-Manuel estimated:
The broader UK market for construction materials is valued at roughly £74 billion. We are highly deliberate in focusing our efforts on a subset of this market, but ultimately, the size of the opportunity is ginormous.
Prolo’s Differentiators
When asked what differentiates Prolo from its competition, Morris-Manuel emphasized:
Our competitors typically fall into two categories: procurement software providers, which leave the team to do the work, and manual service providers, which are typically slow.
We offer something completely different. Because our processes are driven by AI, we handle the heavy lifting in a way that is incredibly user-friendly for the construction industry while executing vastly faster than traditional manual services.
Future Goals
When discussing Prolo’s future goals, Morris-Manuel outlined:
In the short term, our primary focus is on removing all friction from the buying process. We want to make it incredibly easy and efficient for businesses to trade with us, which will, in turn, drive rapid customer adoption.
Looking further ahead, our overarching vision is to become the definitive procurement partner for small and medium-sized construction firms. We often refer to this internally as delivering “Procurement as a Service.”
Getting Started With Prolo
When asked how prospective clients can begin working with Prolo, Morris-Manuel concluded:
We have intentionally designed our onboarding process to be as frictionless as possible. Businesses looking to streamline their procurement can simply visit the Prolo website to get started directly.
Alternatively, for those who prefer a more consultative approach or have specific project requirements they would like to discuss first, our team is always readily available and highly responsive by email at sales@prolo.io. Ultimately, it is about engaging with our customers through whichever channel suits them best.
