Agora, a San Francisco-based construction startup, has closed a $33 million Series B funding round to continue disrupting the commercial materials procurement industry.
The funding round was led by Tiger Global and counted with participation from firms and angel investors like 8VC, Tishman Speyer, Jerry Yang, Michael Ovitz, DST, LeFrak, and Kevin Hartz. John Curtius, a partner at Tiger Global, referred to the firm’s participation by stating:
“Agora is defining the future of procurement in construction. Agora’s platform delivers an industry-leading experience for commercial trade contractors and is a game-changer in modernizing how construction works. We’re excited about Agora’s strong traction, incredible market opportunity, and proven track record of customer success.”
The round has increased the total funding raised by the startup since being founded in 2018 to $44.6 million. The new funds will be used to boost recruiting efforts and increase the pace of its Research & Development (R&D) programs.
Agora aims to end the stagnation experienced by the commercial construction industry since 1947 by providing new technology that helps reduce the cost of construction, as well as material waste while also improving the efficiency of construction efforts. Maria Rioumine, CEO and Co-Founder at Agora, referred to this mission by saying:
“Our cities are facing an affordability crisis. Our mission at Agora is to make the built environment faster and more efficient to build. By modernizing the construction supply chain, we can dramatically reduce building costs and help make our cities more affordable and accessible to all.”
With the commercial construction industry being valued at about $10 trillion and employing more than 200 million people around the globe, using the old manual, pen-and-paper process to manage supply chains is not enough anymore.
This has allowed the construction startup to capitalize on the new needs by creating a platform for the new age, processing more than $140 million in annualized materials orders. As a result, Agora has seen its revenue grow by more than 760% and expanded across 30 states in the US, a result too attractive for investors to ignore.
