PBC Today sat down with Mark Thorley, co-founder and CEO of KOPE, to discuss the offsite construction software platform’s £5.5m seed funding to further develop the platform and accelerate the industry’s shift away from traditional methods
The £5.5m Seed round was led by Socii Capital with participation from Autodesk, Saint-Gobain, Barton Malow Ventures, Halkin Private Capital and Luck Investment.
1. Tell me a little bit about KOPE’s software platform for offsite construction and its uses.
We are focused on helping organisations adopt offsite construction processes, and our platform allows users to instantly apply real-world products directly to design models.
To do this, we have created the industry’s largest offsite marketplace that provides a hub for builders, suppliers and designers to connect.
This is coupled with our software that allows you to digitally integrate prefabricated products and systems directly within your projects.
Not only does this save considerable time and effort when designing and pricing buildings, but allows those looking to engage with offsite processes the ability to see the outcomes of different products and systems on their project goals.
2. How does KOPE address the challenges faced by the construction sector?
Everyone knows the long-standing challenges faced across the construction sector with workforce shortages as well as economic, regulatory and environmental issues perpetuating.
Whilst offsite construction is relatively still a largely untapped market in relative terms, at KOPE we believe this is the future for our industry and presents us with a real opportunity to address these problems at large, once and for all.
The growth in offsite over the past 5 years is clear to see as organisations realise they need to evolve and deliver buildings in more efficient ways.
However, as offsite matures, it is clear there are still challenges with adoption. First and foremost, there is no purpose-built software to address the differences in designing and building in this way.
To truly benefit from offsite construction, decisions about what systems to use and how they will impact design need to be made at the forefront of the project.
This is where KOPE helps. During the early-stages of design you can quickly assess and compare different offsite solutions to find the most suitable for your project, ensuring decisions aren’t made that impact their inclusion later on.
Offsite construction helps solve our industry’s problems, and KOPE solves offsite.
3. In what ways does KOPE’s software contribute to the transformation of the construction industry, considering challenges such as material shortages, rising prices, and increasing carbon footprint?
When applying offsite products in KOPE, users can leverage our cloud optimisation engine, which is capable of finding the most optimal solution based on any criteria you give it.
This could include finding solutions that minimise cost, reduce material waste or even improve efficiencies during manufacturing or logistics.
By having this capability in the cloud, we are able to scale out our platform to analyze thousands of possible solutions, much more than any individual could manage, until we find the best outcome. With our existing customers, often solutions that were never imagined are discovered.
4. How does KOPE plan to utilise the £5.5m raised in the seed funding round?
We already have significant revenue, so this funding will allow us to supercharge our growth. We are doubling down on the UK market where we have had so much success to date, but we will also establish a team in the US as our impact over there increases.
To date, we have had success with manufacturers and contractors primarily, but our plan over the next 12-24 months is on capturing the entirety of the offsite market, through the different categories of products on offer.
Our first specific offering of that nature will be for structurally insulated panel (SIPs) manufacturers, where we have had some great early traction.
5. How does KOPE envision leveraging the relationships of Autodesk and Saint-Gobain, established through the £5.5m funding round, to accelerate its growth and impact in the offsite construction sector?
We have been working with Autodesk and Saint-Gobain since the beginning of KOPE. Both of those organisations align with our vision on where the industry is heading and more importantly what it needs technologically to succeed.
Having both organisations onboard in this latest round of funding is a huge validation of the hard work our team has put in to date and the exceptional software we have built.
We will continue to work closely with both organisations, leveraging existing client relationships Autodesk have to satisfy their needs around industrialised construction and explore ways in which we can onboard the entire Saint-Gobain portfolio of products to KOPE. I can’t wait to see what we can do together now we have solidified our relationship.
