Attentive.ai snags $7M to spice up automation in landscaping, development providers

Attentive.ai, a startup constructing vertical software program for landscaping and development providers within the U.S., has raised $7 million in a brand new funding spherical because it seems to be to reinforce its AI-led choices and develop them to extra companies.

Led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, the all-equity Sequence A spherical, which follows the sooner $5 million seed funding, additionally acquired participation from Attentive.ai’s present buyers: Peak XV’s Surge and InfoEdge Ventures. Moreover, Mumbai-based funding agency Tenacity Ventures has come on board this time via a secondary funding.

Landscaping and out of doors providers primarily depend on handbook measurements that contain labor and operational prices. Whether or not website measurement or paving upkeep, companies spend a whole bunch of {dollars} and tens of hours earlier than kicking off their tasks to estimate the price, acceptable materials and time required. Inaccurate estimates additionally generally result in overbidding and underbidding and influence income objectives. As the actual property business grows, landscaping and out of doors providers firms search for tech-driven options to carry efficiencies and lower operational bills. Enter Attentive.ai to deal with these wants utilizing AI and pc imaginative and prescient.

Based in April 2021 with a spotlight particularly on North America, the Delaware-based startup, which has an workplace in India’s Noida, provides an end-to-end enterprise administration platform with AI-based workflows to carry automation to landscaping and development firms. The platform — already utilized by some main business gamers, together with Juniper, U.S. Lawns, Beary Landscaping, Greenscape, Nanak and East Coast Amenities, amongst others — helps firms save time and successfully bid for out of doors contracts utilizing automated website measurements via Automeasure. The automation software targets providers akin to panorama, paving and services upkeep and snow administration.

Corporations utilizing Attentive.ai’s Automeasure can get measurements of properties — be they industrial, retail chains or housing societies — utilizing a Google Maps-like interface from the place they obtain the estimates by looking for a specific property tackle and defining the lot boundary primarily based on their necessities. Moreover, the software permits customers to manually add blueprints in PDF in order that the software program can hint and decide the amount of fabric required primarily based on the location dimension and different parameters. The software additionally lets firms switch all their present development takeoffs. Moreover, the startup gives a devoted on-site help app, which will be put in on a cellular or pill gadget, to assist the operations staff add notes to the sitemaps by geotagging website information, and lets the bottom employees entry real-time information whereas on the go.

Picture Credit: Attentive.ai

Along with Automeasure, Attentive.ai has a flagship, cloud-based enterprise administration software program for landscaping and development firms. Referred to as Speed up, it automates gross sales processes and operational workflows, provides entry to manufacturing planning with time beyond regulation alerts and dwell gross sales pipeline monitoring, and prevents ghost clock-ins. The software program can also be built-in with aerial and blueprint takeoffs.

“Earlier, businesses used to go on to the site, measure the site — go in with a measuring wheel and measure the entire site. It used to take hours and days. Now, they can just enter the address of that site. Computer vision will process all the available aerial imagery of that site and give you the data… we are also doing generative AI-based automatic scheduling of different properties and jobs that companies need to do,” mentioned Shiva Dhawan, co-founder and CEO of Attentive.ai, in an interview.

Dhawan co-founded the startup together with Rishabjit Singh (CTO) and Aishwarya Maurya (VP Product Technique) to unravel a number of the most urgent considerations of development and out of doors service companies via its software program that helps improve their gross sales and operations.

Up till now, Attentive.ai targeted on the landscaping business. Nonetheless, with the brand new funding coming in, the startup has expanded its focus to development operations and began concentrating on basic and sub-contractors and suppliers in an business which it considers to be valued at greater than $3 trillion, via a software known as Beam AI. It may ship a number of development estimates concurrently after receiving blueprint plans from customers by automating their tracing. On the again finish, the startup has a top quality assurance staff that critiques the auto-generated estimates.

Regardless that Attentive.ai is among the few startups bringing automation to landscaping and development operations, the business has had some aggressive options for a while. These embrace Aspire and LMN in landscaping, Bluebeam and StackCT in development and Go iLawn and PropertyIntel in property measurement. Nonetheless, Dhawan instructed TechCrunch the startup has an AI-based DNA and is a deep tech AI providers firm, and its staff features a background in fintech mapping and insurance coverage.

“We come from an AI-based background where our strength is in the computer vision space, whereas these companies don’t have that tech DNA,” he mentioned.

The startup, the co-founder believes, additionally has the benefit of providing round the clock buyer help from India, which is “highly cost-effective and reliable.”

Attentive.ai seems to be to make the most of the fundraising to develop its go-to-market staff within the U.S. and widen its headcount of 160, of which 5 are primarily based within the U.S. and the remainder are in India, by hiring extra folks. Moreover, the startup plans to make use of a few of its contemporary capital on product growth.

“Attentive’s innovative technology leverages Vision AI to drive disruptions in old-economy industries such as Outdoor Field Services and Construction. Organisations in these sectors are hungry for technology solutions that can drive efficiencies in their businesses. Shiva and his team have demonstrated tremendous commitment to addressing their customers’ needs and the delight was evident when we spoke to their customers,” mentioned Nikhil Marwaha, senior govt director, at Vertex, in a ready assertion.

The startup, with a $4 million annual recurring income fee, has over 500 firms as its clients throughout the U.S. and Canada, of which about 300 are landscaping, 100 are paving upkeep and 100 are development firms. It seeks so as to add extra clients by bolstering its product and advertising.