Volve Raises $3 Million for AI Platform in the Construction Industry

The Norwegian ConTech startup Volve has closed a seed funding round of $3 million, equivalent to approximately 30 million Norwegian kroner. The round was led by Skyfall Ventures. Other participants include J12, Norrsken Evolve, OBOS Ventures, Antler, and StartupLab. Former OBOS CEO Daniel Kjørberg Siraj is also joining as a business angel.

With the new capital, Volve plans to further develop its AI platform for tendering and bidding processes in the construction industry and drive its expansion in Europe.

AI to Analyze Tenders

Construction companies must quickly analyze extensive contracts, drawings, specifications, and requirements; assess risks; and, based on this analysis, decide whether and at what price to submit a bid.

In the construction industry, you have to win projects to stay in business. But winning a project on the wrong terms is worse than losing it.

Herman B. Smith, CEO & Co-Founder of Volve

Volve’s AI platform analyzes the complete tender documents and identifies connections between requirements, scope of work, and potential risks. This is designed to enable companies not only to decide more quickly whether a tender is worthwhile but also to calculate bids more accurately and better compare bids from subcontractors.

Already used in more than 2,500 construction projects

According to the company, the platform has already been used in more than 2,500 construction projects and is utilized by leading construction firms in the Nordic countries.

A recent public infrastructure project illustrates just how extensive the data sets can be: Volve analyzed 213 documents, identified 20 potential risks, and assisted the project team in comparing 73 bids from various subcontractors. Now, the business model is set to scale beyond the Nordic markets. The United Kingdom and continental Europe are at the top of the list. To achieve this, Volve plans to expand both its sales team and its development capabilities.

Leveraging Knowledge from Past Projects for New Bids

A significant portion of the funding is also being directed toward the data structure behind the platform. Volve aims to organize insights from completed tenders in a way that allows them to be reused in future projects.

While every construction project is unique, many commercial decisions and issues tend to recur. Instead of starting from scratch with every new tender, companies should be able to draw on existing project knowledge. As a result, Volve is increasingly evolving from a pure analysis tool into a decision intelligence platform for the construction industry.

80 percent of project costs are determined early on

The market potential is correspondingly large. According to Volve, approximately 80 percent of a construction project’s costs are determined before the contract is signed. At the same time, this early project phase is one of the areas of the construction industry where digitalization has so far made comparatively little progress.

In Europe alone, Volve reports that annual construction investments exceed 1.6 trillion euros. Nearly one in five public tenders, it says, is in this sector. Against this backdrop, Volve aims to establish itself as an intelligence layer for commercial decisions in tenders and during the preconstruction phase.

Investors are betting on European expansion

Lead investor Skyfall Ventures sees particular potential in the combination of AI and existing project knowledge. Rather than simply archiving experiences from past projects, Volve aims to create reusable business value from them.

The other investors are also banking on the company’s traction to date. In addition to Skyfall Ventures, J12, Norrsken Evolve, OBOS Ventures, Antler, and StartupLab are participating in the seed round. Daniel Kjørberg Siraj is also joining as an angel investor. The $3 million will now be used to transform the solution—already established in Scandinavia—into a platform deployed across Europe.