Construction companies are struggling to find enough workers. For startups, that means venture investors are pouring money into companies betting that robots can help close the gap.

Companies spanning construction and robotics have raised about $1.6 billion this year through Oct. 29 — more than 4x the $389 million recorded in all of 2025 — according to Crunchbase data. The surge was driven by three companies that raised the majority of the funding.

The broad trend: For contractors struggling to hire, the appeal of construction-oriented tech offerings is straightforward: They need to get work done and there aren’t enough skilled workers to do it. The AI-driven data center building boom is only adding to that competition for workers. Labor shortages remain the biggest cause of project delays, according to a recent survey by the Associated General Contractors of America and NCCER.

Some of the technology is already at work on job sites.

San Francisco-based Bedrock Robotics, this year’s largest funding recipient in the sector, said in August that excavators equipped with its autonomous systems were operating without human operators on commercial projects in Texas and Nevada.

The numbers: With roughly two months left in the year, funding has already surpassed the previous five years combined.

Companies spanning construction and robotics raised about $1.6 billion through Oct. 29, 3x the previous high of $506 million in 2021, according to our dataset that goes back to 2018. This year’s total is also more than 3x the 2021 high of $506 million.

So far, the funding surge reflects much bigger bets rather than more deals. The sector has recorded 30 rounds this year, compared with 28 in all of 2025. Bedrock alone accounts for $870 million across two deals — more than half of this year’s total. This underscores just how much a few large financings are impacting the recovery.

Austin-based Icon, which builds homes using 3D printing, also raised two rounds in 2026. It has raised nearly $800 million since its 2017 inception. A company spokesperson told Crunchbase News that the company has taken its technology from an experiment to “an in-the-field system that can build faster, with fewer people, less waste, greater design freedom and lower cost.”

To date, the company has built more than 270 homes and structures across five states and two countries. It says that it’s on pace to grow revenue by 4x this year.

“Early on, the question was whether a robotic construction system could build a good home,” the spokesperson wrote via email. “Today, the question is whether a company can deliver at volume, across geographies and project types, and improve its economics with each build. That’s only answerable with time in the field.”

Notable deals

Bedrock Robotics was the largest funding recipient in 2026, impressively raising $870 million across two rounds. The 2-year-old company, which converts existing heavy construction equipment into autonomous machines, announced a $600 million Series C in October led by CapitalG and Emergence Capital. That round, which valued Bedrock at $4.1 billion, followed a $270 million Series B in February led by CapitalG and Valor Atreides AI Fund.

Austin-based construction technology company Icon also raised two rounds, bringing its listed 2026 funding to $265 million. Its largest financing was a $200 million Series D in October led by Baillie Gifford and BlackRock, following a $65 million Series C in March.

Another $200 million round went to Gravis Robotics, based in Zurich, Switzerland, which develops technology to retrofit construction machinery for autonomous earthmoving and excavation. SoftBank led the company’s Series A in August, which valued the startup at $1 billion post-money.

Beyond those large financings, investors backed companies automating homebuilding and specific construction tasks. 

• Reframe Systems, based in Andover, Massachusetts, uses AI, robotics and automation to build homes. It raised $40 million in an August venture round led by Energy Impact Partners.
• Amsterdam, Netherlands-based Monumental, developer of robots for on-site masonry and other building workflows, secured a $32 million Series B in July led by Khosla Ventures.
• Meanwhile Las Vegas-based August Robotics raised a $30 million Series B in May led by Big Pi Ventures. Its autonomous systems serve construction, exhibitions, industrial fit-out and facility operations.
• Belmont, California-based Gritt, which develops AI-powered robotic systems for infrastructure construction, followed with a $26 million Series A in July led by Obvious Ventures.

Sizable seed rounds also made the list.

London-based All3, which uses AI and robotics to design, manufacture and assemble buildings, raised $25 million in April led by RTP Global. Origin, based in San Francisco, developing a general-purpose construction robot, secured $20 million in October, led by Accel and Zacua Ventures.

Exits

Acquisitions have dominated exit activity in construction robotics and related jobsite automation this year.

One of the largest disclosed deals was Carpinteria, California-based Procore’s acquisition of DroneDeploy, a San Francisco-based platform that combines imagery from drones, ground robots and cameras to track construction progress and site conditions. Procore announced the approximately $845 million cash transaction in July and closed it in September.

Other buyers have focused on automating the work itself. In January, Oshkosh subsidiary JLG Industries acquired the core technology developed by Canvas, a San Francisco-based startup known for robotic drywall finishing.

Heavy-equipment autonomy also attracted buyers. In March, HavocAI completed its acquisition of Palo Alto, California-based Teleo, whose technology lets operators remotely oversee heavy machinery.

The following month, San Francisco-based Pronto confirmed that Atoms, Travis Kalanick’s physical AI company, had completed its acquisition for an undisclosed price. Pronto’s autonomous haulage technology now reportedly underpins Atoms’ mining division.

Public offerings have been less prominent, with no known IPOs this year by companies focused specifically on construction robotics. The broader construction technology market did produce a sizable debut: Columbia, Missouri-based EquipmentShare, an equipment rental and connected-jobsite technology company, raised approximately $747 million in gross proceeds in its January IPO, selling 30.5 million shares at $24.50 each.

For all the variety in the companies attracting funding, this year’s surge has so far largely rested on three: Bedrock, Icon and Gravis, which together accounted for more than $1.3 billion, or about 83%, of the roughly $1.6 billion raised. Investors are placing unusually large bets on a small group of companies, even as acquisitions give others a route into larger businesses already serving construction customers.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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