Dive Brief:

• San Francisco-based construction tech startup Toric raised $22 million in funding, the company announced on Sept. 8, and inked a partnership with one of the largest contech firms in the market. 
• The investment round featured $16 million in equity led by San Francisco-based contech stalwart Autodesk, along with participation from existing investors Storm Ventures, Leaders Fund and Real Ventures, according to the release. An additional $6 million was acquired through debt financing.
• Toric’s software captures data throughout the construction process and applies it to current work, which the company claims allows users to make better decisions to save time and money. Toric’s clients include contractors such as Boston-based contractor Suffolk and Dallas-based contractor AECOM.

Dive Insight:

In addition to leading the investment round, Autodesk also established a partnership with Toric, which will allow the company to integrate its capabilities into current Autodesk BIM products such as Revit, Navisworks and Civil 3D. 

Additionally, Toric’s data analytics software will be available in the Autodesk Construction Cloud Marketplace, according to the release.

“As a leader in construction, Autodesk’s investment in Toric will enable us to build key capabilities and unlock new data opportunities for our customers,” Thiago da Costa, Toric’s CEO, said in the release.

Part of the philosophy behind the Autodesk partnership comes from a “products to platforms” shift that the company announced at Autodesk University, its proprietary event, last year. The goal of the shift is to bring the capabilities of the company’s products to its services through the cloud.

Autodesk led the funding round coming off a strong Q2. The contech space seems relatively resistant to current economic headwinds, and competitors such as Procore are also testing expansions into new services.

The trend continues even for smaller contech firms’ funding rounds, which continued to generate success even as the economy has been slammed with inflation, supply chain issues and the threat of a looming recession.