Build, a British-U.S. startup building an AI-native infrastructure platform for governments, developers, and investors, has raised €7.4 million ($8.5 million) in seed funding. The round was led by Index Ventures, with participation from Pebblebed, Puzzle Ventures, Tiny.vc, and angel investors including OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar and Blackstone CTO John Stecher.
Founded in 2024 by architect James Stirrat-Ellis and AI researcher Ben McClusky, Build aims to tackle the slow, fragmented workflows that delay critical infrastructure projects by weeks or months. Stirrat-Ellis previously worked on major projects like Singapore’s Changi Airport Terminal 5, giving him firsthand experience with the operational bottlenecks Build is trying to eliminate.
“The industries shaping the physical world have spent decades trapped in process instead of creativity,” said Stirrat-Ellis. “By removing that operational burden, we can help teams move faster, make better decisions and deliver better infrastructure.”
Build sits within a broader wave of 2026 AI funding for built-environment software. EU-Startups tracked approximately €104.5 million in adjacent rounds this year alone, including Scope’s €17.2 million for industrial inspection, Orbital’s €50 million for AI real estate law, and Qflow’s €2.3 million for construction data integration — plus French startups Davis (€4.6M for automated architectural generation) and GoCanopy (€2.1M for institutional real estate AI).
The investor lineup signals the thesis has traction beyond just Silicon Valley. Index Ventures partner Martin Mignot said Build “represents a new generation of AI companies focused on delivering actual work rather than simply improving software workflows,” praising the founders’ combination of deep technical capability and operational understanding of how critical infrastructure gets built.
The company plans to use the funding to expand its engineering and infrastructure teams, accelerate R&D, and deepen its presence across North America and Europe. With the global infrastructure challenge intensifying — demand for AI data centers, power capacity, and industrial facilities is outpacing supply — Build’s timing looks sharp.
Source: EU-Startups
