Zurich-based startup Scalera has secured $6.5 million in seed funding to streamline construction procurement across Europe. The funding was led by firstminute capital and Speedinvest, joined by strategic angels including executives from Google and founders of unicorn startups. According to multiple reports, the deal came together quickly—lead terms were reportedly finalized within just 48 hours, marking one of the fastest closings in the investors’ history.
Construction procurement, especially in the public sector, has long been tangled in outdated, manual systems. From multi-hundred-page PDF tenders to Excel-based data extraction and endless back-and-forth emails, the inefficiency has created barriers for faster infrastructure development.
Scalera’s co-founder and CEO Leonardo Reinhard puts it bluntly: “To win public tenders today, companies still comb through thousand-page PDFs, copy line items into Excel, and email suppliers one by one. We started Scalera to end that madness and get vital projects moving again—faster, more affordably, and with total transparency.”
In the European Union alone, roughly €1.7 trillion is spent annually by public bodies on construction-related contracts. This underscores the massive opportunity for tools that help buyers and suppliers save time, cut costs, and increase transparency.
Scalera plans to use the new capital to expand across the DACH region, focusing on Germany and Austria first. The startup is currently dominant in Switzerland, reportedly covering 65–75% of all construction contractors in the country. Now, it aims to replicate that presence in neighboring markets, where similar inefficiencies still dominate.
Beyond expansion, funds will be allocated toward product development and automation improvements. Scalera’s platform already leverages AI to parse tender documents, match supplier catalogs, and automate bid creation. New features—like its AI co-pilot for legal checks and risk screening—are in the pipeline to further simplify project planning and execution.
Scalera is the flagship product of RA Scale AG, a spin-off from the prestigious ETH Zürich. The company was co-founded in 2023 by Leonardo Reinhard (CEO), Sven Affeltranger (CCO), and Federico Gossi (CTO). The founding team combines deep technical experience with hands-on construction industry insight.
What sets Scalera apart is its laser focus on vertical AI for a specific, underserved industry. The platform supports a wide range of regional taxonomies like NPK, BKP, VOB, and ÖNorm, allowing it to adapt across borders. In practice, this means faster procurement cycles, fewer errors, and better collaboration among stakeholders.
Scalera’s end goal is clear: to reduce friction in construction procurement and help Europe build faster, smarter, and more transparently.
firstminute capital, known for supporting early-stage tech companies, and Speedinvest, a major European seed-stage VC with over €1B in assets under management, led the funding round. Their quick involvement and decisive backing reflect strong belief in Scalera's model.
Also on board are a range of strategic angels: Cal Henderson (co-founder of Slack), Mehdi Ghissassi (DeepMind), and Sander van de Rijdt & Ibrahim Imam (PlanRadar)—all notable names bringing tech and industry knowledge into Scalera’s corner.
