In a significant development for the construction industry, Cascade, a startup dedicated to assisting architecture, engineering, and construction firms in identifying and securing projects, has successfully raised $3.5 million in seed funding. The investment round saw participation from prominent venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz’s Speedrun, Ada Ventures, and Snowball VC.
Established in 2025 by co-founders Hannia Zia and Joana Ferreira, Cascade was born out of the founders’ personal experiences with the challenges construction businesses face in consistently obtaining projects. Ferreira highlighted her family’s struggles in the industry, noting that despite their expertise, they lacked the necessary tools to expand their work opportunities. Similarly, Zia recounted her father’s difficulties in sustaining a construction business in Pakistan due to insufficient project acquisition.
The traditional method of discovering construction projects is often cumbersome, requiring firms to navigate numerous portals across various governmental levels to find suitable opportunities. Cascade aims to streamline this process by monitoring ongoing and upcoming projects and leveraging historical tender data to predict potential project winners.
Upon registration, companies provide their profiles, which Cascade’s AI tools analyze to identify projects with the highest likelihood of success for them. The platform also anticipates forthcoming projects by analyzing diverse signals and data points from state, local, private, and federal sources. For instance, if a state announces a substantial affordable housing grant, Cascade examines past recipients to forecast potential winners, enabling clients to proactively engage with likely developers.
Participation in Andreessen Horowitz’s Speedrun program proved instrumental for Cascade. The program’s rigorous environment and exposure to other innovative founders facilitated the acquisition of contracts with firms responsible for major projects like the JFK and LaGuardia airports, Four Seasons hotels, and various data centers. Zia emphasized that Speedrun provided the visibility and credibility needed to secure significant deals.
With the new funding, Cascade plans to enhance its market presence, organize industry events, and expand its engineering team. While competitors like GovWin IQ and ConstructConnect exist, Ferreira asserts that Cascade’s AI-centric approach sets it apart. The platform continuously learns from client feedback on bid outcomes, progressively refining its predictive capabilities to offer tailored project leads.
This investment underscores a growing trend of integrating advanced technologies into the construction sector to address longstanding inefficiencies. As Cascade continues to evolve, it has the potential to significantly transform how construction firms approach project acquisition, making the process more strategic and data-driven.
