Build
Build automates complex built-world workflows, including site selection, due diligence, power assessment, early design and constraint analysis.
Europe's most interesting startup stories. Every week.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Podcast Episode
🎙️ Deep Dive
Build, Six Robotics, InSoil — infrastructure AI, defence autonomy and agricultural credit — Daily News June 30, 2026
Listen to the episodeAbout Build
Build is an AI-native startup operating across the UK and the US. The company develops an agentic real estate platform for governments, developers, investors and infrastructure operators. Its €7.4M Seed round led by Index Ventures supports team expansion and the development of a platform that automates complex built-world workflows: site sourcing, technical due diligence, power assessment, early design and analysis of environmental, planning, political and energy constraints.
The Story
Founded in 2024 by James Stirrat-Ellis, an architect with experience on projects such as Changi Airport T5, and Ben McClusky, an AI researcher with a background in multi-agent reinforcement learning.
How Build works
Business Model
B2B enterprise platform for institutional real estate, data centres, energy, infrastructure and commercial development.
Revenue Model
Enterprise contracts and platform-enabled services; pricing is not publicly disclosed.
Products & Services
Key Products
- Build platform
- Dougie AI platform
Core Use Cases
- Site selection
- Technical due diligence
- Power assessment
- Early design
- Planning and environmental constraint analysis
- Investment committee memos
- Data centre and infrastructure development
Market & Clients
Key Customers
Governments, Fortune 500 companies, institutional real estate groups, developers and infrastructure operators; cited clients include Tishman Speyer.
Geographic Presence
How Build competes
Competitors
Competitive Advantages
- Agentic workflows for real-world infrastructure
- 1,600+ data sources
- 100+ projects in 15 countries
- Domain experts from real estate, infrastructure, energy and finance
- Auditable outputs linked to primary sources
How Build grows
Growth Strategy
Expand engineering and infrastructure teams, accelerate R&D and deepen presence across North America and Europe.
Distribution Model
Direct enterprise sales and institutional relationships with developers, investors and governments.
Moat (Defensibility)
Built-world datasets and workflows, combination of AI agents and domain experts, integration into high-value decision processes.
Regulatory Context
Relevant to permitting, planning, environmental constraints, energy, data centres and infrastructure development.
Key Risks
- Accuracy and liability in infrastructure decisions
- Long enterprise sales cycles
- Dependence on data quality and freshness
- Still-emerging market for agentic AI in real estate
Strategic Insights
- Agentic AI becomes valuable when it enters decision processes tied to real capital.
- Data centres, energy and infrastructure are markets where speed of analysis and execution capacity become competitive advantages.
- The product combines automation and human domain expertise, closer to an AI-native operating partner than a simple SaaS.
Funding & Investors
Funding Rounds
- 2026 - Seed: €7.4M / $8.5M
Lead: Index Ventures
Key Investors
Founding Team
Founders
Key Executives
- James Stirrat-Ellis - Co-founder & CEO
- Ben McClusky - Co-founder & CTO
Key Metrics
Lessons from Build
- In complex physical markets, AI must be auditable and linked to primary sources.
- Value is not only generating output, but reducing weeks or months of decision-making.
- Vertical credibility can matter as much as the AI model.
Similar Startups
Gradient Labs
Gradient Labs built Otto, a procedural AI customer service agent that learns company-specific processes and autonomously handles complex inquiries, achieving a 98% quality rate and reducing costs by 75% vs human agents.
Read AnalysisMultiverse
Edtech platform offering apprenticeships and skills training for underrepresented groups entering tech and professional careers.
Read AnalysisGiraffe360
Supply chain visibility platform giving companies real-time visibility into inventory, shipments, and logistics across global operations.
Read Analysis