Monumental, an Amsterdam-based construction robotics company developing AI-powered autonomous systems for on-site building, has raised $32 million in funding led by Khosla Ventures, with participation from existing investors Hummingbird, Plural and others. The capital will support team growth, expansion of the robot fleet across Europe, entry into the US market and development of automation for additional construction tasks.
Scaling Autonomous Construction
Founded in 2021 by CEO Salar al Khafaji and CTO Sebastiaan Visser, Monumental combines AI, autonomous technology and robotics to automate physical construction work. A fleet of more than 100 robots uses sensors, computer vision, small cranes and the Atrium AI software platform to lay brick and mortar with millimeter precision.
Monumental’s robots have contributed to more than 100 homes across the Netherlands and UK, as well as a school, community centre, hotel and canal infrastructure. Contractors access the technology through an autonomous subcontracting model, paying for completed construction work rather than purchasing and operating robots.
“Every robot we deploy expands the industry’s capacity to build. Khosla’s investment lets us put many more of them to work, in more countries, and beyond bricklaying.” - Salar al Khafaji, co-founder and CEO
Addressing Construction Labor Shortages
Monumental aims to increase construction capacity as labor shortages and rising costs put pressure on housing and infrastructure development. The new funding will enable deployment of additional robots while expanding automation beyond bricklaying into a broader range of construction activities.
“Construction costs have exploded while the industry itself has barely changed in decades. That combination has produced the housing crisis: we know how to build, we've just made it too expensive and too slow. Monumental is solving this by bringing robotics into the physical world, and the proof is already standing: canal walls, houses, a school, nearly 100 structures already built by robots. Beautiful buildings, built at scale, don't have to cost what they cost today.” - Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures