Bricklaying robots developed by a Dutch startup will be heading to sites in the UK after the firm secured $32m (£23.8m) of funding.
Monumental, founded in 2021, has a fleet of more than 150 autonomous bricklaying robots that have worked on sites in Europe and the UK. The injection of capital (led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from existing investors Plural and Hummingbird) will help the business target more sites in the UK.
Monumental’s robots use sensors, computer vision and cranes to lay brick and mortar with “millimetre precision”, operated by an AI platform, Atrium (developed by Monumental). The robots have built walls for more than 100 homes across the Netherlands and the UK, as well as for a school, a community centre and a hotel. They have even built canal walls. Nearly half of the homes were built in the past three months.
“The world simply does not have enough people to build what it needs, and that shortage will not be solved by another app or another robot doing backflips on stage,” said Salar al Khafaji, co-founder and CEO of Monumental. “It takes machines that turn up on site and lay real brick all day, to spec, which is what our fleet already does today.
“Every robot we deploy expands the industry’s capacity to build, bringing a future of beautiful, affordable, bespoke buildings and infrastructure closer to reality. Khosla’s investment lets us put many more of them to work in more countries while expanding beyond bricklaying.”
