Dive Brief:

• Cemex Ventures, a Madrid-based construction technology firm, has announced the sixth iteration of its construction startup competition, where firms looking to change the industry can compete to get in front of investors, according to a press release.
• Returning partners to the event are established names in the contech space, such as Dysruptek by Haskell, Ferrovial and GS Futures, among others. Additionally, the competition is welcoming Black & Veatch, a global engineering, construction and consulting firm, along with industry giant Procore Technologies, according to the release. 
• Aspiring companies have until Sept. 4 to apply for the competition. Selected winners will be invited to Pitchday in November, where they will outline their vision and products for the judges, as well as leading companies and investors from the construction and technology industry, according to the release. Last year’s gold medal winner was Atlanta-based AI firm DocumentCrunch, and other past winners include British modular building firm Modulus and San Francisco-based software and financing platform Handle.com.

Dive Insight:

Gonzalo Galindo, head of Cemex Ventures, told Construction Dive that the competition usually has between 400-600 applicants, and he didn't expect any fewer this year.

Firms can enter the competition under four different categories:

• Green construction: for startups changing the construction industry by decarbonizing the built environment, mitigating the industry's carbon footprint and promoting a circular economy.
• Enhanced productivity: for participants looking to increase efficiency and productivity by improving stakeholders' collaboration, communication and coordination through a connected construction value chain, and make data-informed decisions.
• Construction supply chain: for those helping key members of the industry get materials to the right place at the right time while improving the supply chain through improved fleet tracking, material sourcing and more.
• Construction's "future is now:" for startups improving productivity in the industry through the use of robots, advanced building materials and more.

Startups will be judged in a variety of different areas, such as the potential for growth in the market, feasibility of expansion, business model scalability and how well it fits into the judges' business units, value and participation in previous funding rounds and the startup's team itself. Galindo said that the company expected each category to be equally represented through the competition.

The world of contech is growing rapidly as companies look to invest, and Galindo said he expects the industry to see exponential growth. Firms have raised hundreds of millions of dollars in recent funding rounds, buttressed by the fact that 2021 was the strongest year of contech funding to date. This competition will present another crop of startups with the opportunity to bring in the cash needed to power their innovation.

"I think people are finally understanding that only [by] investing in new concepts, investing in technology, in solutions, the construction world will become a better place," Galindo said.