Darren Bechtel

Darren Bechtel has a front-row seat to the construction world’s adoption of AI — and the historic influx of capital that’s followed. 

Bechtel’s venture capital firm is a longtime specialist in the space. Founded in 2015, Brick & Mortar Ventures invests in innovative technologies in architecture, engineering, construction and facilities management. The first quarter of 2026 saw a series of successful exits in its portfolio. Workforce management platform Rhumbix, robotics company Canvas and insurance tech platform Obie all underwent acquisitions.  

The construction value chain isn’t an especially cash-flush, waste-tolerant user group, but new school AI companies are throwing the industry’s traditional sales cycles out the window. Take Brick & Mortar portfolio company Dili, an AI-powered compliance startup for infrastructure projects. In July, Dili raised $15 million in Series A funding on the heels of a $6.7 million seed round. 

“In one case, they sold a million-dollar, first-year license in six weeks from start to finish,” Bechtel said. “That is not normal for construction tech.”

Startups like Dili are building solutions to the industrywide woes of capacity and labor shortages, and generalist investors are taking note. In some cases, new ventures with no revenue have led seed rounds north of $1 billion, Bechtel said.

“I didn’t think we would go from being the largest construction tech VC to telling people that their seed round was too big for us,” Bechtel said. 

Despite the frenzy, and its own penchant for taking risks, Brick & Mortar is focused on capital-efficient growth, and is conservative in the valuations and exit scenarios for its category.

“My big fear is a valuation reset that makes people shy away from construction tech and say, ‘I told you this industry would never change,’” Bechtel said. “We keep pretty tight swim lanes. We are seed and Series A as our primary entry point. We’re sticking to our guns there.”