London construction data firm receives £2.2m Seed funding from multiple backers

A construction data company has today announced it has received £2.2m in Seed funding.

The round, for London based Bkwai, was led by Octopus Ventures with participation from Deeptech Labs and the investment arm of the University of Cambridge, Cambridge Enterprise.

The BKwai software platform combines data from multiple sources (on site sensors, environmental data and remote satellite data) giving a whole view of the asset, as well as its surrounding environment.

The company deploys data techniques to help engineers sift through huge volumes of data to find patterns, predict what is going to happen and identify early warning signs.

The platform puts this insight into the site engineer’s hands quickly and in real time, enabling construction companies and asset owners to make more timely, more cost-effective and safer decisions.

Although only founded in 2019, BKwai is already deployed on construction sites by some of the biggest names in UK construction and on existing major infrastructure assets. Current customers include Thames Tideway, Laing O’Rourke, Kier, WSP and Highways England.

Sakthy Selvakumaran, founder at BKwai commented: “It is a really exciting time at BKwai. We are seeing increased demand and as such are expanding our offering to meet the industry’s needs.

“The proliferation of new sensors and satellite technology has the potential to fuel a revolution in the way the built environment can be monitored. Data can be used to make smarter, safer, more economical decisions across all aspects of the process - from planning to construction to operation and maintenance.

However, in an industry rooted in spreadsheets and manual interventions, it becomes impossible to sift through such volumes and find key insights and values.

Sakthy continued: “One sensor or source of information does not fix all problems – the industry is crying out for better tools to help understand the complex challenges facing our built environment. That’s where we step in - we can give them the much needed data-driven engineering insights, to find the right solutions and take action.”