AI Startup Build Raises €7.4M for ‘Agentic Real Estate’ Push Across Europe

What Build Is Building

Founded in 2024 by architect James Stirrat-Ellis — who previously worked on projects including Changi Airport's Terminal 5 in Singapore — and AI researcher Ben McClusky, Build aims to address slow and fragmented processes that can delay infrastructure projects by weeks or months. The company says demand for AI infrastructure, power capacity and industrial development is outpacing supply, while many engineering and consulting firms lack the margins to invest heavily in their own AI transformations.

Its platform automates complex workflows such as site sourcing, technical due diligence, power assessment and early-stage design. According to the company, it draws on more than 1,600 data sources and evaluates planning, environmental, power and political constraints in parallel rather than sequentially, helping clients flag risks earlier. Build reports that the system can reduce project timelines by more than 95%, and says it has been deployed on over 100 projects across 15 countries for governments, Fortune 500 companies and institutional real estate groups, including Tishman Speyer.

The firm describes its long-term ambition as "agentic real estate" — automating the full development lifecycle from site selection and permitting through engineering, pre-construction and asset management. To do so, it combines AI talent with domain experts recruited from firms such as Blackstone, Tishman Speyer, Starwood Capital and JP Morgan.

A Wider European Funding Wave

EU-Startups reports that Build's raise sits within a broader 2026 trend of investment into AI tools for real estate, construction, infrastructure inspection and industrial engineering. Comparable rounds cited include London-based Scope's €17.2 million raise (also led by Index Ventures), London-based Orbital's €50 million Series B for AI-powered property law, and Berlin-based SPREAD AI's €25 million Series B for industrial engineering intelligence. Other deals span Paris, Zurich and Germany.

Taken together, these adjacent built-environment funding rounds total roughly €104.5 million, rising to about €111.9 million when Build's seed round is added. UK-based companies feature prominently in the sample, with Scope, Orbital and Qflow all headquartered in London.

Index Ventures partner Martin Mignot said Build represents "a new generation of AI companies focused on delivering actual work rather than simply improving software workflows," while Tiny.vc partner Ophelia Cai pointed to the firm's pace of execution and the scale of the infrastructure opportunity. CEO Stirrat-Ellis said the goal is to free teams from operational burdens so they can "move faster, make better decisions and deliver better infrastructure."

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