CEMEX Ventures has invested in Concrete Sensors, a US-based startup company that "enables contractors to accelerate their on-site work schedules through the accurate real-time monitoring of temperature, relative humidity, and strength for any mix design of concrete."
Concrete Sensors is described as: "An Internet of Things company focused on construction. (It) uses embedded wireless sensors, combined with a mobile app, to supply the data needed to make critical decisions with a high degree of accuracy. The combination of data and in-house concrete lab calibration enables their customers to save money and reduce schedules by weeks, all while improving quality."
According to CEMEX Ventures: "This solution represents a major breakthrough in the construction industry, allowing teams not only to avoid schedule delays, but also to optimise their workflow. Every concrete pour is unique, making management difficult and increasing a project’s risk. After concrete pouring, installed on-site sensors are automatically activated to immediately analyse the concrete, ensure quality, and create efficiency. Sensors continually collect data, reporting on performance and alerting contractors of issues before they happen."
The Concrete Sensors solution has already been used by large contractors such as Turner Construction Company and Skanska.
According to the company's investment statement: "This user-friendly solution has caught the interest of CEMEX Ventures, Requus Ventures, and Arab Angels Fund, which have partnered in this investment. All share a common vision with Concrete Sensors of focusing on the market potential of actionable insights, high accuracy, superior customer service, and a deep understanding of the construction industry."
For Gonzalo Galindo, chief executive of CEMEX Ventures, the move widens his industry profile: "We decided to invest in Concrete Sensors because it is a startup that offers solutions to a broad range of challenges in construction. It brings added value to CEMEX customers by exploiting our product benefits and saving costs.”
And fellow investor Dino Antzoulis, managing director, Requus Ventures shares the vision: “Requus Ventures is a strategic investor with global reach and targets investments in the construction and real estate space, such as Concrete Sensors. These can offer their customers cost and time savings, quality improvement and can easily be scaled globally. Concrete Sensors has a great team and offers a simple and scalable IoT solution for the large and antiquated construction industry."
Omar Darwazah, General Partner at Arab Angel Fund said: “Concrete Sensors’ IoT solution delivers customer cost and time savings and overall quality improvement. We look forward to helping the company explore business development and commercial opportunities in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region and capitalize on the infrastructure and construction spending boom in the GCC (the Gulf Cooperation Council).”
Launched in 2017, CEMEX Ventures says that it "focuses on helping to overcome the main challenges and capitalising on the opportunity areas in the construction ecosystem through sustainable solutions. CEMEX Ventures has developed an open collaborative platform to lead the revolution of the construction industry, engaging startups, entrepreneurs, universities, and other stakeholders to tackle the challenges in the construction environment and shape the industry’s future."
Requus Ventures says that it "was formed in 2017 with a mandate to invest in disruptive real estate and construction technology start-ups that are focused on generating cost savings and optimising operating efficiencies for developers, owners and asset managers of real estate globally."
Arab Angel Fund (AAF) is an "early stage venture capital firm focused on Seed and Series A investment opportunities with companies that have international expansion potential. It provides access to entrepreneurs seeking to enter the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the larger Middle East & North Africa (MENA) regions and Western Asia markets. The fund currently has 70 portfolio companies across a number of different sectors in North America."
