Attentive.ai, a startup constructing vertical software program for landscaping and building providers within the U.S., has raised $7 million in a brand new funding spherical because it appears to be like to reinforce its AI-led choices and broaden them to extra companies.
Led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, the all-equity Collection A spherical, which follows the sooner $5 million seed funding, additionally acquired participation from Attentive.ai’s present buyers: Peak XV’s Surge and InfoEdge Ventures. Moreover, Mumbai-based funding agency Tenacity Ventures has come on board this time via a secondary funding.
Landscaping and out of doors providers primarily depend on handbook measurements that contain labor and operational prices. Whether or not web site measurement or paving upkeep, companies spend a whole bunch of {dollars} and tens of hours earlier than kicking off their initiatives to estimate the price, acceptable materials and time required. Inaccurate estimates additionally generally result in overbidding and underbidding and impression income objectives. As the actual property trade grows, landscaping and out of doors providers firms search for tech-driven options to convey efficiencies and minimize operational bills. Enter Attentive.ai to handle these wants utilizing AI and laptop imaginative and prescient.
Based in April 2021 with a spotlight particularly on North America, the Delaware-based startup, which has an workplace in India’s Noida, presents an end-to-end enterprise administration platform with AI-based workflows to convey automation to landscaping and building firms. The platform — already utilized by some main trade gamers, together with Juniper, U.S. Lawns, Beary Landscaping, Greenscape, Nanak and East Coast Services, amongst others — helps firms save time and successfully bid for out of doors contracts utilizing automated web site measurements via Automeasure. The automation software targets providers resembling panorama, paving and amenities upkeep and snow administration.
Firms utilizing Attentive.ai’s Automeasure can get measurements of properties — be they business, retail chains or housing societies — utilizing a Google Maps-like interface from the place they obtain the estimates by trying to find a selected property handle and defining the lot boundary primarily based on their necessities. Moreover, the software permits customers to manually add blueprints in PDF in order that the software program can hint and decide the amount of fabric required primarily based on the location dimension and different parameters. The software additionally lets firms switch all their present building takeoffs. Moreover, the startup offers a devoted on-site help app, which might be put in on a cellular or pill system, to assist the operations crew add notes to the sitemaps by geotagging web site information, and lets the bottom workers entry real-time information whereas on the go.
Picture Credit: Attentive.ai
Along with Automeasure, Attentive.ai has a flagship, cloud-based enterprise administration software program for landscaping and building firms. Referred to as Speed up, it automates gross sales processes and operational workflows, provides entry to manufacturing planning with additional time alerts and stay gross sales pipeline monitoring, and prevents ghost clock-ins. The software program can be built-in with aerial and blueprint takeoffs.
“Earlier, companies used to go on to the location, measure the location — go in with a measuring wheel and measure the whole web site. It used to take hours and days. Now, they will simply enter the handle of that web site. Pc imaginative and prescient will course of all of the obtainable aerial imagery of that web site and provide the information… we’re additionally doing generative AI-based automated scheduling of various properties and jobs that firms have to do,” mentioned Shiva Dhawan, co-founder and CEO of Attentive.ai, in an interview.
Dhawan co-founded the startup together with Rishabjit Singh (CTO) and Aishwarya Maurya (VP Product Technique) to resolve a few of the most urgent considerations of building and out of doors service companies via its software program that helps improve their gross sales and operations.
Up till now, Attentive.ai targeted on the landscaping trade. Nevertheless, with the brand new funding coming in, the startup has expanded its focus to building operations and began focusing on basic and sub-contractors and suppliers in an trade which it considers to be valued at greater than $3 trillion, via a software referred to as Beam AI. It might probably ship a number of building estimates concurrently after receiving blueprint plans from customers by automating their tracing. On the again finish, the startup has a high quality assurance crew that critiques the auto-generated estimates.
Despite the fact that Attentive.ai is likely one of the few startups bringing automation to landscaping and building operations, the trade has had some aggressive options for a while. These embrace Aspire and LMN in landscaping, Bluebeam and StackCT in building and Go iLawn and PropertyIntel in property measurement. Nonetheless, Dhawan advised TechCrunch the startup has an AI-based DNA and is a deep tech AI providers firm, and its crew features a background in fintech mapping and insurance coverage.
“We come from an AI-based background the place our power is within the laptop imaginative and prescient house, whereas these firms don’t have that tech DNA,” he mentioned.
The startup, the co-founder believes, additionally has the benefit of providing round the clock buyer help from India, which is “extremely cost-effective and dependable.”
Attentive.ai appears to be like to make the most of the fundraising to broaden its go-to-market crew within the U.S. and widen its headcount of 160, of which 5 are primarily based within the U.S. and the remainder are in India, by hiring extra individuals. Moreover, the startup plans to make use of a few of its contemporary capital on product growth.
“Attentive’s progressive expertise leverages Imaginative and prescient AI to drive disruptions in old-economy industries resembling Outside Area Companies and Building. Organisations in these sectors are hungry for expertise options that may drive efficiencies of their companies. Shiva and his crew have demonstrated great dedication to addressing their prospects’ wants and the delight was evident after we spoke to their prospects,” mentioned Nikhil Marwaha, senior govt director, at Vertex, in a ready assertion.
The startup, with a $4 million annual recurring income price, has over 500 firms as its prospects throughout the U.S. and Canada, of which about 300 are landscaping, 100 are paving upkeep and 100 are building firms. It seeks so as to add extra prospects by bolstering its product and advertising and marketing.