Construction Management Startup Powerplay Bags $7.14 Mn In Funding Round Led By Accel

Construction management platform Powerplay on Thursday (September 8) said it has raised $7.14 Mn in its Series A funding round led by existing investor Accel.

The round also saw participation from other marquee names such as Sequoia Surge (Sequoia India’s accelerator for Indian and Southeast Asian startups), India Quotient, and Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. 

The startup will use the funding to scale its core business operations and to ramp up its presence domestically and internationally. The startup will also use the investment to strengthen its operating system (OS) business and to hire for key positions in the tech vertical. 

“…Through the current funding, we aim to deepen our roots by nurturing our core business and widen our branches by developing an easy-to-use construction management platform for construction businesses around the world,” Powerplay chief executive officer (CEO) and cofounder Iesh Dixit said.

The startup also aims to double down on its US operations. Powerplay aims to develop a universal application to address its shortcomings in the iOS-led US market. The app, which will cohesively run across multiple platforms including Android, iOS and web, will be the platform’s key focus area for the next few months.

Founded in 2019 by Dixit and Goyal, Powerplay is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that allows different stakeholders involved in the construction process to communicate and collaborate. Its construction management platform offers a one-stop solution via a mobile app  for project managers and workers to track their progress, payments and manage site work and labour on the site. 

This is the startup’s second funding round in over a year. Powerplay had last raised $5.2 Mn in a funding round led by Accel and Surge in July last year. 

Since the last fundraise, the startup has doubled its team size. Powerplay claims to have managed construction worth INR 7,500 Cr in the first six months of calendar year 2022 (CY22), up from INR 7,000 Cr in the complete CY21. The Bengaluru-based SaaS platform has also witnessed a 3X growth in its OS business so far this year, compared to the entirety of CY21. 

In total, Powerplay has so far managed more than 5,000 projects across the globe and caters to more than 1.5 Lakh users. 

The announcement comes amidst a renewed interest in construction tech startups by investors. Earlier today, construction marketplace ZippMat raised $10 Mn in a mix of equity and debt as part of its seed funding round led by Matrix Partners India.

On September 7, construction-focused labour hiring platform Project Hero raised $3.2 Mn in a seed funding round led by Ankur Capital and Omidyar Network India. Earlier last month, proptech accelerator Gruhas ASPIRE also announced its maiden cohort of seven startups that it aims to scale up. 

Meanwhile, the Indian SaaS ecosystem continues to power startups operating at the intersection of software and construction. According to a report, the Indian SaaS market is projected to grow to $30 Bn by 2025.