With early backing from ventureLAB and YSpace, BidBlox AI is modernizing preconstruction across North America.
Two years ago, Lisa Mohapatra arrived in Canada from Bangalore with a plan to modernize one of the world’s most time-worn industries.
Her idea was to apply deep tech to preconstruction, which encompasses the planning, bidding and procurement phase of new developments.
“The bigger the problems, the better you become.”
Lisa Mohapatra, BidBlox AI
This, she said, is where delays and budget overruns often begin.
By targeting inefficiencies upstream, she believed she could help prevent the downstream issues that drive up project costs for developers and home-buyers alike.
“We observed a lot of inefficiencies in the process, and knew that technology could innovate and do things much more efficiently,” says Mohapatra, a mechanical engineer turned entrepreneur.
“Construction suffers from information asymmetry and huge material price volatility. Estimators and procurement managers spend thousands of hours doing manual work, which can be error-prone.”
Today, her Markham-based startup, BidBlox AI – co-founded with Katrina Sitkovits – uses multi-agent AI models to automate those workflows and identify early-stage risks. Sitkovits, the company’s CTO, brings a strong background in data science and AI, complementing Mohapatra’s domain and startup experience.
Full Article: betakit.com
