Insider Brief
- Drawer AI, an AI-powered estimating system for the electrical trade, raised $5 million in a Seed round led by Brick & Mortar Ventures, bringing its industry-first generative estimating system to market with six electrical contractors already using it.
- Founded by industry veterans Den Lavrik and Nick Latsis, Drawer AI automates the complex and time-consuming process of electrical estimating by using machine learning to analyze construction plans, improving accuracy and efficiency.
- The funding will support product expansion, team scaling, and customer acquisition, with a mission to transform preconstruction processes in the electrical trade using AI.
PRESS RELEASE — Drawer AI, an AI-powered estimating system, has announced the close of its $5M Seed round led by Brick & Mortar Ventures and with participation from Base 10 Partners. This is the company’s first institutional round and puts it in a strong position to share its powerful, industry-first, generative estimating system. Drawer AI is coming out of stealth mode alongside the capital raise and launching with six industry-leading electrical contractors already using the product.
Drawer AI was founded by Den Lavrik, a former construction estimator and serial founder, and Nick Latsis, former co-founder and CEO of an electrical BIM services company that worked with top electrical subcontractors. Lavrik and Latsis have a collective 25 years of experience in the construction space, have built over thirty commercial electrical projects across the USA, and saw the lags in the space firsthand, bringing them to found Drawer AI due to a fundamental need.
Drawer AI’s mission is to build the precon tools the co-founders wished they’d had when they worked on projects. To achieve that goal, the company has assembled a team of industry experts, computer scientists, and AI experts to design and build the best electrical estimating system possible.
“We realized the time available to analyze construction drawings with the frequency of updates was never enough to be highly confident in the plan,” said Latsis, COO of Drawer AI. “We needed tools that automate parts of the analysis to free up enough time to estimate and plan the project thoroughly.”
“I’ve long been frustrated with the lack of good tools for the electrical trade, especially estimating. It’s one of the most critical and complicated systems, yet it’s been underserved by technology vendors until now,” said Lavrik, CEO Drawer AI. “We spent years researching how AI could help precon, starting with takeoff, and worked closely with our electrical contractor partners to test the technology on real projects.”
Electrical 2D floor plans usually show less than 30% of the actual construction details, with the rest hidden in tables, text, and diagrams. Estimators have to manually gather this information, apply industry standards, and design the conduit routing themselves to create an estimate. Drawer AI uses advanced machine learning technology to automate this entire process, making estimating faster and easier.
“If only one thing is true of construction these days, it’s that you don’t get enough time, so making the most of the time you have is crucial,” said Isaac Phillips, Senior Estimator & Instructor, Starr Electric. “Drawer AI is helping to do just that and more by simplifying and automating the takeoff process, allowing us to either get more done in less time, do more at once, or focus on the often-overlooked aspects of projects, instilling confidence in our overall estimate that we can convey to our clients.”
“We’re excited to support Drawer AI as they transform how electrical estimates are done,” said Kaustubh Pandya, Partner at Brick & Mortar Ventures. “Den and Nick have a lot of experience in the industry and are using AI in a smart way to tackle the challenges of electrical estimating, which is a crucial but often overlooked part of construction. Drawer is helping contractors make more accurate and efficient estimates now, but their bigger goal is to speed up design and coordination by using AI to create solutions in 2D and 3D.”
Drawer AI will use this round of funding for product expansion, scaling the team, and customer acquisition. To get in touch with the Drawer AI team, reach out at [email protected]
About Drawer AI
Drawer AI is an Austin, Texas-based company founded in 2021 to deliver AI-powered preconstruction software for the electrical trade. It was founded by estimators and AI engineers to deliver tools specifically for subcontractors. Our goal is to empower estimators and replace their long-outdated software with AI-powered solutions.
About Brick & Mortar Ventures
Brick & Mortar Ventures is an early-stage venture fund focused on the Built World. Founded by Darren Bechtel, the firm invests in emerging companies developing innovative software and hardware solutions for the industries of architecture, engineering, construction, and facilities management. Notable past investments of the firm and its General Partner include Seed round participation in PlanGrid, BuildingConnected, BuildZoom, and Rhumbix, as well as early-stage investments in FieldWire and Levelset (formerly Zlien). Brick & Mortar Ventures is based in San Francisco, CA.
About Base10 Partners
Founded by Adeyemi Ajao and TJ Nahigian, Base10 is a San Francisco-based venture capital fund investing in founders who believe purpose is key to profits and in companies that are automating sectors of the Real Economy. Through its program the Advancement Initiative, Base10 donates 50% of profits to underfunded colleges and universities to support financial aid and other key initiatives. Portfolio companies include Notion, Figma, Nubank, Stripe, Popmenu, Aurora Solar, and Chili Piper.
Media Contact
Iryna Chorna
(512) 663–9798
Featured image: Credit: Drawer AI
