Insider Brief
- TerraFirma raised about $115 million, including a $100 million Series A led by Kleiner Perkins, to expand its technology-enabled construction business and develop semi-autonomous heavy equipment systems.
- The company said the funding will support engineering, manufacturing, operations and construction teams, with investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Glade Brook Capital Partners, BANNER VC, Saga Ventures, Trust Ventures, Definition, PEAK6, Magnetar Capital and Ravelin Capital.
- TerraFirma’s platform combines AI-enabled pre-construction software, a remote command-and-control center and retrofitted heavy machinery designed to let skilled operators manage fleets of machines from screens rather than from inside each cab.
TerraFirma has announced raising about $115 million to expand its technology-enabled construction business and develop semi-autonomous heavy equipment systems.
According to the company, the financing includes a $100 million Series A led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Glade Brook Capital Partners, BANNER VC, Saga Ventures, Trust Ventures, Definition, PEAK6, Magnetar Capital and Ravelin Capital. Angel investors include founders, executives and engineers from SpaceX, Anduril, Base Power, Shinkei and Hadrian.
TerraFirma said the funding will support expansion of its engineering, manufacturing, operations and construction teams, as well as continued development of its semi-autonomous heavy equipment systems.
The company is focused on construction for critical infrastructure. It said the U.S. needs more homes, factories and energy infrastructure, while construction productivity has fallen behind the broader economy. The company cited data that shows that since 1965, labor productivity in U.S. construction has declined at an average rate of 0.6% a year, while productivity across the broader economy has grown about 1.6% annually.
TerraFirma’s platform combines AI-enabled pre-construction software, a remote command-and-control center and retrofitted semi-autonomous heavy machinery, including excavators, dozers, loaders, rollers and skid steers.
The system is designed to let skilled operators manage fleets of machines from screens rather than operate one machine from inside the cab. TerraFirma said the approach can make each operator up to 300% more effective, while accelerating projects, reducing costs and creating safer equipment-operation jobs.
TerraFirma was founded in 2024 by former SpaceX engineers Noah Schochet and Noah McGuinness, who met at Princeton before working on programs including Starlink, Starshield and Starship.
“It is not about trying to fully automate construction equipment,” McGuinness, who serves as CTO, said in the nnouncement. “Making construction truly faster and cheaper requires innovating on operations and technology together across the full stack. We believe autonomy is a part of the solution, but driving real change requires building a whole ecosystem of technology that is directly informed by rapid iteration and lessons from the field.”
The company pointed out that it is working on projects across housing, energy, transportation, manufacturing and education. Recent commercial projects include site preparation, excavation and grading for a Starbucks in North Austin, a sports arena in Spicewood, Texas, and a power substation in New Braunfels, Texas.
TerraFirma indicated it is also working with the U.S. government on international infrastructure and logistics projects in challenging operating environments.
The company said its long-term goal is to apply construction technology developed for projects on Earth to future building on the Moon and Mars.
