Build-Online.com, a
business-to-business e-commerce site for Europe’s $830 billion construction
industry, completed second-round funding of $16.9 million.
The funds will drive expansion across Europe, just five weeks after its
launch in the UK and its first year in Ireland, the company said.
The second-round investors include Goldman Sachs, Viventures (the French
venture capital firm backed by Vivendi), and BancBoston Capital. Total
funding for
Build-Online.com now stands at $18.5 million.
Build-Online.com acts as an ‘e-construction’ site where building materials
and services, which account for 65 percent of total construction costs, can be
bought and sold. In addition, the site’s project collaboration tool links
together all the parties involved in a construction project, enabling them to
manage every stage of the construction process from design to building and
maintenance.
Build-Online.com said it estimates that e-construction can deliver 23 per
cent savings in European construction and reduce construction project
completion times by 15 percent.
Since the company’s U.K. launch in January, Build-Online.com is managing
projects worth over $200 million online including, the major redevelopment of
Farmleigh House in Dublin on behalf of the Irish government.
“E-construction has the potential to deliver vast savings for the European
construction
industry, and our investment in Build-Online.com will further their
development in Europe,” said Adrian Jones of Goldman Sachs.
Build-Online.com’s revenues will be generated by charging fees for
transactions carried out on-site.
