Dive Brief:
- Suffolk Technologies, the venture capital arm of Boston-based contractor Suffolk, announced participants for its third annual BOOST technology accelerator program.
- The six-week business accelerator connects technology startups in the built world with Suffolk leaders, industry experts and academics. It is aimed at developing digital solutions to address labor, supply chain, design, sustainability and automation goals.
- In this year's program, seven startups will test their products on Suffolk jobsites while developing relationships with builders and meeting pros in the field.
Dive Insight:
The seven chosen startups were selected out of a pool that climbed to 185 applicants in 32 countries. Key themes among this year’s applicant group include sustainability, design, planning, robotics and other areas, according to the release. The seven winners are:
- BuildClub: BuildClub allows contractors to order sought-after building materials on demand for delivery in as short a time as one hour, which ensures efficiency and productivity on projects.
- CalcTree: CalcTree brings together engineering teams, designs and calculations onto one cloud-based management platform, where calculations can be easily shared and translated to streamline engineering work.
- Carbon Title: Carbon Title provides an end-to-end software platform designed to empower the real estate industry to calculate carbon impact and reach carbon neutrality goals.
- Constrafor: Constrafor helps general contractors and subcontractors procure and cashflow their projects, and boost productivity and cost-efficiency.
- PLOT: PLOT's Delivery Calendar, Logistics Map and Structured Messenger ensure constant alignment within project teams.
- Qualis Flow (Qflow): Qflow is a digital platform enabling construction teams to collect and make decisions based on real-time data at the source.
- TrustLayer: TrustLayer offers a collaborative risk management platform that helps reduce friction between stakeholders by automating the verification of insurance, licenses and compliance documents that contractors receive from their business partners.
The construction industry is infamous for being behind the curve when it comes to adopting new technology. Accelerator programs like BOOST are meant to remedy the issue and provide startups with the connections they need to scale their products.
“At Suffolk, we are continuously exploring new technologies, solutions and partners that will add value for key stakeholders across the entire building lifecycle and push our industry forward,” said John Fish, the company’s chairman and CEO.
Suffolk has been an early adopter of technology on its own jobsites. The company leverages Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot to document project progress, cutting out the need for humans to take pictures while performing work.
Other contractors are nurturing tech start ups as well. WSP’s incubator, which occurred earlier this year, picked four startups for a similar initiative.
This year's BOOST programming began on Oct. 3, and the BOOST Demo Day is scheduled for Nov. 17.
