Construction automation startup TerraFirma raises $115M

Construction automation startup TerraFirma Inc. has raised $115 million in funding, the company disclosed today. The bulk of the capital arrived in the form of a $100 million Series A round led by Kleiner Perkins. TerraFirma said Bain Capital, Definition and more than a half-dozen other institutional investors chipped in as well. The company's investor roster also includes employees at several major tech firms including SpaceX Corp. TerraFirma was launched in 2024 by former SpaceX engineers Noah Schochet and Noah McGuinness. Its platform enables construction teams to remotely pilot excavators, tractor loaders and other vehicles using joysticks. TerraFirma says that removing the need for users to sit in a construction vehicle's cab boosts safety while significantly improving productivity. Customers don't have to manually coordinate every construction task. According to TerraFirma, its software provides the ability to create "autonomous workflows" that automate repetitive chores. The platform also promises to ease several related tasks. TerraFirma says its software speeds up the process of creating price estimates for construction projects. Furthermore, engineering firms can use it to plan each step of the construction workflow and test the workflow for inefficiencies with a built-in simulation tool. Once construction is underway, TerraFirma's platform uses an obstacle avoidance algorithm to keep remote-controlled vehicles from colliding. The company says the software makes it possible to operate multiple vehicles on the same construction site. "Making construction truly faster and cheaper requires innovating on operations and technology together across the full stack," said McGuinness. "We believe autonomy is a part of the solution, but driving real change requires building a whole ecosystem of technology that is directly informed by rapid iteration and lessons from the field." CNBC reported that TerraFirma will use its new funding to hire 300 workers over the next year and build a new facility from which it plans to orchestrate customer vehicles.