Buildstock Secures Funding to Expand Construction Material Marketplace and Fintech Platform
Buildstock, a B2B marketplace and fintech platform for construction materials, has secured $1.6 million in pre-seed funding from Precursor, MGV, XFactor, RefashionD, and a number of visionary angels, according to a recent announcement. This funding is aimed at scaling the platform, expanding third-party FinTech, AI, and logistics integrations, and broadening participation in the marketplace.
Late payments in the construction materials industry totaled over $208 billion in 2022, a 53% increase from 2021. Buildstock's marketplace and FinTech solutions aim to address this issue by enhancing procurement efficiency. Builders using Buildstock can benefit from AI-driven product discovery, significant cost savings of up to 40% on materials, and faster lead times up to 5x quicker. Additionally, the platform provides transparency into lead times and tracking information for supply deliveries. Buildstock also offers a feature that utilizes AI to generate supply lists from blueprint files, further streamlining the procurement process.
"The construction industry stands at the cusp of a significant transformation, with the supply chain procurement process ripe for disruption," said Jim Barrett, chief innovation officer at Turner Construction, a large private builder. "We need innovative solutions like Buildstock to streamline material sourcing, offer cost efficiencies, and also inject unprecedented transparency into project management through real time life-cycle tracking of materials procurement from order to delivery."
For suppliers, Buildstock promises fast, predictable payments, departing from the standard 90- to 120-day waiting period. The platform utilizes factoring and pays suppliers within five days of delivery, aiming to improve their unit economics, manufacturing capacities, overhead, and insurances.
In a recent statement, Kathryn Thiele, founder and CEO of Buildstock, highlighted the platform's focus on completing projects faster, more cost-effectively, and with unprecedented transparency. "Buildstock isn't another complex software pitch," she claimed. "I promise."
Buildstock, certified as a minority & women-owned business (M/WBE), is poised for expansion across the United States, particularly in light of New York's requirement to allocate $60 billion of contracts to M/WBE enterprises for public projects.
"Digital disruption has been the story of our generation and construction is one of the last holdouts for this type of innovation," said Charles Hudson, founder and managing partner at Precursor Ventures. "There are enormous efficiencies to be unlocked in the massive construction industry and Buildstock is at the forefront of bringing these to life
Buildstock ultimately aims to provide a centralized marketplace for construction companies and suppliers.
