Cyphra and Tag-n-Trac complete the pódium of a record-breaking 10th edition, with 798 applications from 62 countries
Cemex Ventures, together with BCA Singapore, Caterpillar, Dysruptek by Haskell, Ferrovial, Hilti Ventures, Leonard by VINCI Group, NOVA by Saint-Gobain, Trimble and Zacua Ventures, today announced the winners of the Americas Pitch Day of Construction Startup Competition 2026, held on the Main Stage of the Venetian Ballroom in Las Vegas as part of the Trimble Dimensions User Conference.
Eight startups made it to the final: Universal Matter (UMI), Cyphra Autonomy, Teleworker AI, Civils.ai, Kestrel Labs, Boon AI, Spartan Industries and Tag-N-Trac. Over a two-hour session, they pitched solutions ranging from AI-powered preconstruction to jobsite robotics, new materials and connected logistics to a jury made up of representatives from the competition’s ten partners.
The jury awarded Gold to Universal Matter, Silver to Cyphra and Bronze to Tag-N-Trac.
The Americas Pitch Day podium
Gold · Universal Matter (UMI) (Canada). The Canadian startup turns carbon waste into graphene dispersions for concrete, a technology that improves its strength while significantly reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, without increasing costs. Vertical: ClimateTech for the Built World.
Silver · Cyphra Autonomy (USA). The U.S. startup has developed PAL, an autonomous robotic platform that moves materials, tools and debris across commercial jobsites so that skilled crews can stay on task. Vertical: Jobsite Productivity & Building Systems.
Bronze · Tag-N-Trac (USA). Its full-stack IoT and AI platform brings real-time, end-to-end visibility and automation to global supply chains and logistics. Vertical: Smart Manufacturing & Logistics.
Beyond the medals, the three winners gain direct access to the competition’s partners to explore pilots, commercial partnerships and investment opportunities: companies with the real capacity to adopt and scale their technology.
The 10th edition Hall of Fame keeps growing
The Las Vegas medalists join Civils.ai, which opened this edition’s Hall of Fame in September by taking Gold at the APAC Pitch Day in Singapore, held during International Built Environment Week (IBEW).
All of them emerge from the most competitive edition in the history of the competition: 798 applications from 62 countries, up 40.3% from 2025. Jobsite Productivity & Building Systems was the category with the most applications (32.5%), followed by ClimateTech for the Built World (22.8%) and Preconstruction Technologies (21.7%).
For the fourth consecutive year, the competition returned to The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas alongside Trimble Dimensions, one of the world’s largest gatherings of construction and technology professionals.
From Las Vegas to a $200 million Series A: the Gravis Robotics story
Last year’s Gold winner shows what can come after the podium. On November 12, 2025, on this very stage, Swiss startup Gravis Robotics took first place with its technology for automating heavy construction machinery. Hyperion Robotics (Finland) won Silver with its 3D printing of concrete infrastructure, and BuildCheck (USA) took Bronze.
In less than a year, Gravis Robotics has moved onto the global stage:
- March 2026: expands into the United States with its autonomous machinery platform and wins one of the CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026 Next Level Awards.
- August 2026: announces a $200 million Series A led by SoftBank to accelerate the deployment of its technology, one of the largest recent rounds in construction robotics.
Its journey captures the purpose of Construction Startup Competition: identifying the emerging technologies with the greatest potential and connecting their founders with an ecosystem capable of powering their next stage. Over its ten editions, the competition’s winners have raised more than $1 billion.
The voice of the competition
“Ten editions on, the caliber of the Las Vegas finalists shows that construction technology is no longer a promise but a reality. Our three medalists are solving problems our industry faces every day, and our job now is to help them go from the stage to scale,” said José Antonio Brunet, Manager of Cemex Ventures.
The partners behind the competition
The 10th edition of Construction Startup Competition is organized by Cemex Ventures together with BCA Singapore, Caterpillar, Dysruptek by Haskell, Ferrovial, Hilti Ventures, Leonard by VINCI Group, NOVA by Saint-Gobain, Trimble and Zacua Ventures. Their involvement is what makes the competition unique: finalists don’t just pitch to a jury, but to the very companies that can pilot, adopt and invest in their solutions.
Final stop: Helsinki, November 17
The 10th edition now enters its final stretch. On November 17, the European Pitch Day will bring five finalists to RecoTech during Slush Week in Helsinki: Bton, Builder Assist, Bimefy, Sensible 4 and Robotiz3d. There, the European Gold winner will be crowned, closing the competition’s first-ever edition with Pitch Days on three continents.
Singapore and Las Vegas have their winners. Helsinki is next.
