Sequoia Surge Startup Brick&Bolt Raises $1.5 Mn To Simplify Construction Biz

Emarketplace for end-to-end construction services Brick&Bolt has raised $1.5 Mn in Pre-Series A round led by Sequoia’s accelerator programme Surge.

Livspace founders Anuj Srivatsava and Ramakant Sharma, Trifecta Capital partner Aakash Goel, IndiQube cofounder Meghna Agarwal, and Piramal Fund Management senior principal Navin Dhanuka also participated in the round.

With its operations limited to Bengaluru, Brick&Bolt is planning to use the funding to expand into operations in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. For this financial year, Brick&Bolt has planned to expand into two to three cities.

The company has currently zeroed down on Mysore for immediate expansion. Moreover, the company will also be working on enhancing its technology platform and getting more people on board.

Founded in 2018 by Arpit Rajpurohit and Jayesh Rajpurohit, Brick&Bolt is a digital platform that allows users to connect with contractors based on their requirements. The company acts as a mediator and ensures timely constructions. The company claims to be profitable.

How Does Brick&Bolt Work?

Rajpurohit describes Brick&Bolt as a “control marketplace” that controls “each and every part of project executions” ranging from designing to construction. Brick&Bolt cofounder Rajpurohit noted that the traditional construction businesses usually end up costing much more than what actually was planned. Moreover, there is a lack of transparency, and quality assurance, along with delays in constructions.

“Typically, the whole experience of construction tends to be daunting and time-consuming – from finding the right contractors, quality issues, price escalation and project delays,” the company said, in its press release.

That’s where Brick&Bolt comes into play, assuring safe money transactions, quality checks and timely and transparent construction. The company noted that Brick&Bolt platform mitigates issues with the traditional construction experience by making customers experience seamless.

From finding the right contractors and architects to enabling transparent pricing the company handles it all. Moreover, the company also levies penalties on the service provider in case of delays, which ensures that the construction is completed by the said deadline. The company currently has over 260 independent constructors on board, who are paid on project bases.

Enabling Hassle-Free Services For Customers

The company relies on cutting-edge technology and state-of-the-art systems to provide hassle-free and reliable service for its customers. The company’s platform is powered by Artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled tools.

All a customer has to do is fill out a service request form, which is available on its website and mobile app, and specify the services they’re looking for. Based on the interaction, the request is scored and the AI-enabled platform connects the customer to a contractor with the same level of score.

“We also understand the schedule of each project, depending upon the weather… The engine also predicts the ideal schedule for the project that needs to be completed,” Rajpurohit. The company also plans to integrate a computer vision that will take constant photographs of the site to keep track of the progress made and the cause for delays.

Cheaper Than Your Average Solutions?

The company also offers different packages to the customers based on the service they want to procure. These packages include house construction packages starting from INR 1,465 per sq ft, compound wall packages starting from INR 680 per running ft, woodwork packages starting from INR 1080 per sq ft and commercial construction packages starting from INR 1,350 per sq ft, including GST.

Brick&Bolt also claims that, compared to the traditional contractors, the company is “much better” in terms of cost-effectiveness. The company is also hoping to bring down the costs even further by setting up its own supply chain to provide construction material to the contractors. In January 2020, Brick&Bolt started ready-mix concrete (RMC). In the next one or two years, the company is hoping to transfer the benefits to its customers.

Indian Startups Look Into Construction Business

The Indian construction industry is poised to reach $640 Bn in 2022, which will be aided by government initiatives in infrastructure development and affordable housing, Rajpurohit highlighted.

Looking at the market size and potential, various entrepreneurs have jumped in to offer their own tech solutions. Some other startups working in the domain include Delhi-based Tracecost and Bengaluru-based 100Pillars, among others.

Both the startups claim to be profitable, even though the companies have been in operations for not more than two years. 100Pillars was founded by Srinivas Jayaram and Kishan Raj in November 2018, whereas Tracecost was founded in 2019 by Prabh Paul, Madhvi Walia, and Sunny Vohra.