Buildings account for nearly 40% of global energy use and play a major role in carbon emissions, yet early design choices often lock in inefficiencies for decades. Vienna-based deep tech startup Optimuse is aiming to change that narrative with an AI platform that speeds up and sharpens building engineering decisions.
Today, Optimuse announced the close of a €4 million seed round, led by seed + speed Ventures and Blum Ventures, with repeat investments from Matterwave Ventures and aws Gründungsfonds.
This fresh capital will fuel the startup’s European and global expansion, scaling a platform that empowers developers, builders, and planners to make climate-smart choices around heating, cooling, ventilation, and building envelopes.
Building physics know-how with machine learning
Founded in 2021 by Dominik Pezzei, Fabian Pitscheider, and Felix Maximilian Hofer, Optimuse blends deep expertise in building physics with advanced machine learning.
The platform constructs digital twins from existing architectural plans and simulates thousands of design variants, offering crystal-clear recommendations that balance initial investments, operational costs, and CO₂ savings.
The startup touts results including 70% faster preliminary design, 10% lower construction costs through optimised system sizing, and 20% additional emission reductions.
Dominik Pezzei, Managing Director and co-founder, Optimuse, says: “Buildings are becoming increasingly complex, both technically and in terms of regulations. Our AI solution provides clarity: it compares variants in a very short time and recommends the most sustainable and economical solution. This enables our customers to plan, transform, and operate buildings in a future-proof and cost-efficient manner.”
While big players like Procore and Autodesk offer generalised construction AI across workflows, Optimuse zeroes in on the nuts and bolts of building systems engineering. Startups like Konstruksi.AI and Teragonia focus on project management or scheduling automation, but lack the deep, physics-based energy modelling and transparent simulation that Optimuse provides.
What’s next?
Looking ahead, Optimuse plans to leverage its new funding to accelerate international growth. As tightening EU sustainability regulations push demand for efficient renovation and new construction, the company sees an urgent need for tools that take the guesswork out of complex building decisions.
André Hammerer, Managing Director at Blum Ventures, concludes, “Optimuse addresses one of the biggest issues of our time: the sustainable transformation of the building stock. With its combination of AI, building physics, and practical simulation, the team creates real added value for builders, planners, and operators.”
