Why Are There No Unicorns in Construction?
Date Posted: May 28, 2025
Posted In: Discussion, Ideas,
From AEC Magazine: The construction industry is one of the largest sectors on the planet. Yet even with an annual value estimated at $14 trillion, it has so far yet to experience digital disruption.
The potential is huge, too, and billions of dollars were invested in construction and property technology (contech and proptech) start-ups over the past five years, with the mission of sparking a revolution in how we create the built environment.
Yet what has been perceived as a field brimming with potential is still to produce the desired fruit. In this article, we will delve into the key challenges facing AEC start-ups and how these might be overcome.
In recent years, I have witnessed first hand the growth of the construction tech industry, through my own involvement in running a start-up, taking on advisory roles for government organisations and corporates, and working in the construction material commerce space. That’s given me an in-depth view of the huge potential here, and how far we are from filling the current gap. I present my views with hope that it can help AEC entrepreneurs and investors find some common ground on which to build.
Why The Delay?
So what makes construction so tricky and so seemingly immune to digital disruption as compared to other sectors? As I see it, construction tech start-ups face a number of key challenges, including:
Dinosaurs versus unicorns: Construction is a game that comes with a very heavy ticket price to play. Not only does it require a strong financial backbone and stamina, it also takes a lot of experience – one that cannot be bought, even with lavish funding. As opposed to the IT sector, where new start-ups can spring up to become market-leading mega companies with valuations measured in billions of dollars in just a few years, the building sector is dominated by veterans. Even in the construction software space, the market is led by well-established players offering tech stacks that are often 20 to 30 years old. This would seem like a natural breeding ground for a new age to emerge, where the Canva, Figma or Wiz of construction might flourish, but it is yet to happen. Let’s begin the analysis by seeing how the money is spread.