Civil engineering AI firm wins regional edition of world's largest construction startup competition
The recognition signals growing regional contech investment and could accelerate AI adoption that improves pre-construction productivity and decision-making across built-environment projects.
Singapore-headquartered Civils.ai won the inaugural Asia Pacific Pitch Day with an AI co-pilot that can reduce construction-material takeoff time by up to 90%.
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Civils.ai, a Singapore-headquartered construction tech (contech) firm, has been crowned Gold Winner of the inaugural Asia Pacific Pitch Day of this year's Construction Startup Competition.
It was one of the five finalists that had taken the stage at the regional pitch day, held on Sept 2 at the ConTech Summit during the International Built Environment Week (IBEW) 2026.
Civils.ai’s innovation is an AI co-pilot, or intelligent software assistant, for civil engineers that extracts and cross-checks data from drawings, contracts and geotechnical reports.
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This can cut takeoff time — the process of quantifying materials required for a construction project from drawings — by up to 90% and help improve decision-making before construction begins.
The startup received a EUR10,000 ($14,722) cash prize sponsored by Meta and joined the Construction Startup Competition's global top 30, which will stand a chance to compete in the global finals.
Civils.ai will also be able to access an influential network of venture capital and stakeholders in the built-environment industry.
As the winner of the inaugural Asia Pacific pitch day, it "blazed the trail" for built-environment startups across the region, Singapore’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA) noted in a Sept 2 release.
Alvin Tan, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and National Development, said that many contech startups today face the same kinds of challenges and are embarking on the same journey.
"Though their tech is good, moving beyond small pilot trials to commercial scale is tough," added Tan, who was delivering the closing address at the ConTech Summit. "You need capital, you need real-world construction sites to test your machines, and you need actual buyers who are ready to adopt them."
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In Singapore, the government is working closely with the industry to give these startups the test track and commercial runway they need, he continued.
On Sept 2, the five Asia Pacific finalists pitched before a jury of global built-environment leaders — Cemex Ventures, Caterpillar, Dysruptek by Haskell, Ferrovial, Hilti, Vinci Group’s Leonard, Nova by Saint-Gobain, Trimble, Zacua Ventures, and BCA — who are the organisers of the Construction Startup Competition.
Their innovations span areas such as AI, digital workflows, and advanced construction analytics across pre-construction, job site productivity and sustainability in the built environment.
Besides Civils.ai, the other four finalists were: Arbel.ai, ConcreteAI, Bton.io, and Lightyx. They were selected from 243 applicants from across the region.
The competition’s expansion into Asia Pacific comes as investments within the global contech ecosystem is at an all-time high, with the region accounting for almost 20% of it last year. In tandem, with the increased investments, the pace of innovation is also accelerating.
This year, the Construction Startup Competition saw a 40% surge in applications from 2026.
Miguel Carralon, investment and partnerships manager at Cemex Ventures, one of the organising partners, said that a notable outcome of this year’s edition was the 181% increase in applications from startups based in Asia and Oceania.
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"This is a clear indication that the region is home to a growing pipeline of construction technology startups with solutions ready to compete on the world stage," he added.