Drone startup TraceAir raises $3.5M in series A funding

California-based drone startup TraceAir has raised $3.5 million in its series A funding round led by London-based XTX Ventures. The company’s construction site development acceleration platform utilizes drones to survey and create 3D maps of projects.

The company has shared that it will spend the money to expand its sales and marketing team and accelerate the development of new features in time for the post-pandemic construction boom.

After the latest round of funding, TraceAir is sitting on a total investment of $7 million, thanks to the following investors: Liquid 2 Ventures, GEM Capital, GPS Ventures, Andrew Filev, Metropolis VC, US construction industry leaders Independent Construction, and ENGEO.

Dmitry Korolev, cofounder and CEO of TraceAir, said:

We are happy to announce our series A round in these turbulent times, thanks to support from our new and existing investors. The COVID-19 pandemic created new challenges for the US and worldwide construction industries, resulting in delayed projects and growing unemployment rates. Our platform allows industry leaders to manage projects more efficiently and collaborate with their teams remotely, minimizing the need for physical presence on site.

A feature benefiting from the funding round is an advanced grading planner, which is estimated to reduce grading costs by around 10%. If you aren’t aware, grading is when the earth has to be leveled out to a certain spec to allow the foundation of a house to be correctly poured.

To improve its platform’s adoption rate, TraceAir has been working directly with seven of the top 25 home builders in the United States. These partnerships have allowed it to survey thousands of projects, perfect its techniques, and improve based on customer feedback.

The platform also allows the building companies and homeowners to view the house’s progress via the cloud, providing 3D models, high-resolution images, and access to a new communication channel right from the platform.

Ekaterina Holt, head of XTX Ventures, added:

XTX Ventures is proud to have led this growth round for TraceAir. This capital will allow the company to continue to expand their leadership in the space while enabling their customers to safely and cost-effectively execute their development projects.

Photo: TraceAir