Munich-headquartered Emidat, which provides environmental data solutions for the construction industry, has snapped €4 million in seed funding. The round was led by General Catalyst, which recently backed Figma and Factorial.
The investment will enable Emidat to support the construction industry to reduce the environmental footprint of the whole built world, starting with a revolution in the labeling of every single building material. It will also enable the company accelerate product development and grow its team.
In recent months, we saw similar investment rounds in construction tech companies, including Concretene and Trunk Tools
Addressing emissions in construction
The construction and real estate sector is grappling with embodied carbon emissions, which account for over half of its 39% contribution to global GHG emissions. These emissions stem from materials’ manufacturing, transport, and disposal, a process that’s accelerating as 230 billion m² of new floor area is added globally over the next 40 years.
Currently, creating Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) is fragmented, costly, and slow, hindering efforts to measure and reduce embodied carbon efficiently. The European market could be worth at least €5 billion a year, based on the cost of producing a verified certificate for 500,000 construction products while it is estimated that manufacturers will need to create 25 times the amount of all the EPDs that have been published so far.
Digital solutions like Emidat, which provides environmental data for over 150,000 products and integrates with APIs, Excel, and BIM to reduce these emissions and reach EU net-zero targets by 2050. Moreover, it simplifies the process of creating EPDs, making it faster, easier, and more affordable.
Simplifies construction emission management
Founded in Munich by Lisa Oberaigner and Florian Fesch in 2023, Emidat’s software can cut the cost and time taken to generate EPDs by over 70%. With a centralised repository for environmental data, the company makes it easier for stakeholders to access and compare the information. Manufacturers can demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and differentiate themselves from competitors.
Emidat has rapidly secured some of the world’s leading global suppliers of construction materials as clients, including three of the world’s largest concrete manufacturers. It is working with several leading building material manufacturers in Europe, including companies in the concrete, insulation, steel, and facade industries.
“Buildings are where we live, work and learn – they are at the heart of all productive economies. While we make progress in decarbonising the energy sector, construction continues to have a huge and damaging impact on our planet,” said Lisa Oberaigner, CEO and co-founder of Emidat. “Since 75% of the buildings we will be using in 2050 are yet to be built, there is a huge opportunity to reduce the impact of this sector. By providing transparent and accessible environmental data, we can help decarbonize the industry and create a more sustainable built environment.”
Samuel Beyer, Investor at General Catalyst said, “We see Emidat as a turnkey solution for decarbonizing the mission-critical built environment from the ground up; it will increasingly function as a collaborative platform where the industry can collectively access and exchange material data. We believe this will help drive the speed of industry transformation and value chain efficiency.”