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Fieldwire’s aim is to digitise construction, bridging the gap between the office and the job site.
On Monday (16 September), San Francisco-based start-up Fieldwire announced that it has raised $33.5m to help with its aim of modernising the construction industry. To date, the company has raised $40.4m.
Founded in 2013, Fieldwire has developed a field management solution for construction workers. Its Series C funding round was led by Menlo Ventures. There was also participation from Brick & Mortar Ventures, alongside Hilti Group and Formation 8.
Tyler Sosin of Menlo Ventures will now join Fieldwire’s board of directors alongside Darren Bechtel of Brick & Mortar.
Digital solutions
Fieldwire’s mission is to digitise construction, bridging the gap between the office and the job site.
The start-up’s solution enables everyone involved in a construction project to track and coordinate work from any device, ensuring proactive responses to all things related to quality, safety and scheduling.
The start-up claims to save more than one hour per person per day by streamlining communication on each project. Fieldwire’s platform has already been used on more than 500,000 construction projects worldwide.
Over the last two years, the company has won agreements with Built in Australia, Clark Construction Group in the US and EllisDon in Canada.
With the recent round of funding, Fieldwire plans to fuel R&D while increasing international expansion. In a press release, the company said that it has already expanded beyond its San Francisco headquarters, opening offices in Phoenix, Arizona, and Paris, France.
The start-up plans to open an additional office in Australia before the end of 2019 and expects to have a total of 150 employees by summer 2020.
Australia is currently something of a hub for start-ups related to construction, including Sydney firm ConX and Melbourne-based Aconex, which was acquired by Oracle for $1.2bn in 2017.
‘Deeply changing the way construction works’
Bechtel, founding partner and managing director of Brick & Mortar Ventures, said: “Construction represents 10pc of the world’s GDP, but this immense market is still in its digital infancy.
“Traditionally, construction software has been sold top-down and has only impacted a fraction of construction professionals. By focusing on the craft workers and subcontractors, Fieldwire is deeply changing the way construction works from the field up.”
Fieldwire’s CEO, Yves Frinault, added: “Our customers face two distinct challenges: finding technology that actually gets adopted in the field, but also forming long-term partnerships with companies that can grow with them and deliver enterprise level service.
“Being a great partner in this industry is often rewarded with deep customer loyalty, so our main goal is to stay equally nimble and customer-focused as the company grows.”
Sosin, partner at Menlo Ventures, said: “Fieldwire combines an efficient ‘bottom-up’ distribution engine with a unique capacity to expand customers from small crews into large enterprise deals.
“The result is a cash flow positive company with a really strong growth rate − something we rarely find but are delighted when we do.”
