Cascade raises $3.5M to help construction firms win projects
Cascade raises 35m help for construction firms hunting work: the startup closed a $3.5 million seed round backed by a16z Speedrun, Ada Ventures, and Snowball VC. Its AI platform helps architecture, engineering, and construction firms find and win projects by tracking tenders and predicting likely winners across U.S. portals.
Key Takeaways
- Cascade raised a $3.5 million seed round from Andreessen Horowitz Speedrun, Ada Ventures, and Snowball VC.
- The AI-native platform helps AEC firms track projects and predict which developers are likely to win deals.
- Founders Hannia Zia and Joana Ferreira launched Cascade in 2025 after seeing how hard it is to secure construction work.
- The startup will use the capital to go to market, host industry events, and hire more engineers.
- Customer bid-win feedback is meant to keep making the system smarter over time.
According to TechCrunch, Cascade is building for architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms that struggle to find predictable pipelines of work. The raise lands as more builders look to AI tools that cut through fragmented public and private opportunity data. For more coverage of AI-driven platforms, see our Future Tech & AI Wonders hub.
How does Cascade help firms find and win projects?
Zia has called the current process a “constant treasure hunt.” Firms often must check portals for each U.S. state, city, district, county, and federal agency. Specialists—say, teams that build suspension bridges—must chase matching opportunities across those disparate listings.
Cascade tracks ongoing and upcoming projects, then uses prior tender data to predict which developers are likely to win. After a company signs up, AI tools score which projects it has the best chance of winning. The product also forecasts what is coming next using signals across U.S. states, local districts, private contracts, and federal agencies.
One example cited by the founders: if a state announces a $100 million affordable housing grant, Cascade monitors which developers won that grant the last time. “We connect that data, and we tell our customers: ‘Most likely one of these five developers will win this newly announced grant, so go start talking to them to win projects,’” Ferreira told TechCrunch.
Who founded Cascade and why does it matter?
Co-founders Hannia Zia and Joana Ferreira built Cascade after seeing the problem up close. Ferreira’s mother sold materials to construction companies, and her uncle built mansions in the Middle East—strong at the craft, but short on tools to win more work. Zia recalled her father trying to start a construction business in Pakistan and failing to get enough projects to stay afloat.
The duo applied to a16z’s Speedrun last September. They said demo-day pressure and time around other founders helped them sign contracts with firms that have built the JFK and La Guardia airports, Four Seasons hotels, and some data centers. “Speedrun gave us visibility and a stamp of approval to close big deals,” Zia said.
How will Cascade use the $3.5 million seed?
Cascade plans to put the fresh cash into go-to-market efforts, industry events, and engineering hires. Ferreira argues the company is more AI-native than older players such as GovWin IQ and ConstructConnect. “Every time a customer wins a bid, they give feedback, so the system keeps getting smarter. Over time, we’ll have a complete map of the industry that our AI can traverse to predict the best projects and leads for each customer,” she said.
For AEC teams drowning in portal hopping, Cascade’s pitch is simple: less treasure hunting, more targeted outreach before deals lock in.