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

Led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, the all-equity Collection A spherical, which follows the sooner $5 million seed funding, additionally acquired participation from Attentive.ai’s current 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 guide measurements that contain labor and operational prices. Whether or not web site measurement or paving upkeep, companies spend lots of of {dollars} and tens of hours earlier than kicking off their tasks to estimate the fee, acceptable materials and time required. Inaccurate estimates additionally generally result in overbidding and underbidding and impression income objectives. As the true property business grows, landscaping and out of doors providers corporations search for tech-driven options to deliver efficiencies and reduce operational bills. Enter Attentive.ai to handle 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, presents an end-to-end enterprise administration platform with AI-based workflows to deliver automation to landscaping and building corporations. 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 corporations save time and successfully bid for out of doors contracts utilizing automated web site measurements via Automeasure. The automation instrument targets providers corresponding to panorama, paving and services upkeep and snow administration.

Firms utilizing Attentive.ai’s Automeasure can get measurements of properties — be they business, retail chains or housing societies — utilizing a Google Maps-like interface from the place they obtain the estimates by trying to find a selected property deal with and defining the lot boundary based mostly on their necessities. Moreover, the instrument permits customers to manually add blueprints in PDF in order that the software program can hint and decide the amount of fabric required based mostly on the positioning dimension and different parameters. The instrument additionally lets corporations switch all their current building takeoffs. Moreover, the startup gives a devoted on-site help app, which may be put in on a cellular or pill machine, to assist the operations crew add notes to the sitemaps by geotagging web site knowledge, and lets the bottom employees entry real-time knowledge 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 building corporations. Known as Speed up, it automates gross sales processes and operational workflows, provides entry to manufacturing planning with additional time alerts and reside gross sales pipeline monitoring, and prevents ghost clock-ins. The software program can also be built-in with aerial and blueprint takeoffs.

“Earlier, companies used to go on to the positioning, measure the positioning — go in with a measuring wheel and measure your entire web site. It used to take hours and days. Now, they’ll simply enter the deal with of that web site. Pc imaginative and prescient will course of all of the out there aerial imagery of that web site and provide the knowledge… we’re additionally doing generative AI-based computerized scheduling of various properties and jobs that corporations have to do,” stated 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 resolve a few of the most urgent considerations of building and out of doors service companies via its software program that helps improve their gross sales and operations.

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

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

“We come from an AI-based background the place our power is within the pc imaginative and prescient area, whereas these corporations don’t have that tech DNA,” he stated.

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

Attentive.ai appears to be like to make the most of the fundraising to increase its go-to-market crew within the U.S. and widen its headcount of 160, of which 5 are based mostly within the U.S. and the remaining are in India, by hiring extra folks. Moreover, the startup plans to make use of a few of its recent capital on product improvement.

“Attentive’s revolutionary expertise leverages Imaginative and prescient AI to drive disruptions in old-economy industries corresponding to Outside Discipline Providers and Building. Organisations in these sectors are hungry for expertise options that may drive efficiencies of their companies. Shiva and his crew have demonstrated super dedication to addressing their clients’ wants and the delight was evident after we spoke to their clients,” stated Nikhil Marwaha, senior government director, at Vertex, in a ready assertion.

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