Focussing on AI Infrastructure Planning, New York-based startup Build has been given $8.5 million Seed funding to help build its business and tech. The round of investment was led by Index Ventures, with participation from Pebblebed, Puzzle Ventures, Tiny. vc, and with background from OpenAI, Blackstone, Meta AI Research Ltd., Google Maps and well known angel investors.
It was co-founded by James Stirrat-Ellis and Ben McClusky. Stirrat-Ellis was previously an architect in Singapore, working on a S$13 billion expansion of Changi Airport before launching Build. He observed that large reports, fragmentation of information and prolonged review processes slowed down many infrastructure projects.
He dropped out of his master's program at Harvard, learned how to code software, and played a role in founding a rapidly growing AI company before creating Build, wanting to tackle these challenges.
Build has a service-based business model instead of selling software subs. Clients pay a monthly retainer and the company manages critical functions including site selection, technical reviews, power analysis, environmental checks, and risk analyses. The platform collects info from over 1,600 data sources, while professionals verify the results before being send out to clients.
This process cuts down the time companies need for project due diligence by more than 95%, giving them in hours what used to take weeks to complete, the company says. Which keeps developers moving their projects forward quickly, and less dependent on the traditional consulting firms.
The trend of large global cloud providers either building data centre projects across the globe continues, creating a growing need for faster infrastructure planning. Hyperscalers alone are expected to spend up to $700 billion on data centre development in the next three years, making a good case for expedited planning and permitting of projects.
Build has successfully delivered more than 100 projects within 15 countries since its inception. The firm has partnered with clients such as Tishman Speyer and advised institutions that manage $2 trillion in assets collectively. It has also secured a first hyperscaler customer, a significant milestone for its growth.
Startup has a 10-person team spread across four continents, but is hiring five more as it grows.
According to Index Ventures partner Martin Mignot, the founders have finessed technical expertise with hands-on experience in building infrastructure, putting the company in a strong position to address industry problems.
With the new funding, build plans to bolster its engineering team hiring experts in real estate, finance and infrastructure. The company is also planning to expand its platform for other stages in the property development process, including site selection, permitting, engineering, construction planning and long-term asset management.
Build, which is very tuned into the growing competition in infrastructure technology that make up a unique cloud area of on demand tools for enterprises building on the cloud, also sees its service-first approach and quicker path to delivery as aspects that will help keep it competitive as newer consulting firms roll their own AI tooling.
