Construction software startup ProcurePro builds $6.15 million Series A for UK expansion

Queensland construction industry procurement platform ProcurePro has raised $6.15 million as it looks to take on the UK market. 

The company’s first external round was backed by AirTree and industry expert Leigh Jasper through his VC fund Saniel Ventures.\

The capital raised from ProcurePro’s first venture round will help accelerate growth in the UK as a key expansion market, and cement its market-leading position across Australia and New Zealand. 

ProcurePro was founded in Brisbane in 2021 by Alastair Blenkin, Tom Newby, Nathan Dench, Jesse Dymond and Tim Rogers, who have backgrounds in law, construction management, enterprise software development and product design, and now has 40 staff across Australia and New Zealand.

Cofounders Tim Rogers and Alastair Blenkin have relocated to the UK for the startup’s global ambitions, and have already signed up projects worth nearly $600 million within weeks of setting up shop there. 

Blenkin, ProcurePro’s CEO, said around 80% of project costs for a head contractor are spent on procuring specialist subcontractors, so speed is key to avoiding cost escalation. 

So far the startup has saved them 200,00 hours in construction admin since launching 2.5 years ago, and their goal is 1 billion hours.

“Procurement is mission critical to set projects up for success but is plagued by inefficiencies,” Blenkin said.

“After setting a budget to win a project, procurement is the last opportunity to materially impact and defend profit margin. Technology for procurement has been overlooked and use of legacy systems is rife, presenting a blue ocean opportunity on a global scale.”

ProcurePro enables construction firms to take control of their supply chain by consolidating 15-plus procurement processes traditionally managed with Excel, Word and 1000s of emails, into a single digital platform to give builders visibility, consistency and control in half the usual procurement time

Since its launch, ProcurePro has been used in more than 1000 projects worth $30 billion  in Australia and New Zealand.

Investor Leigh Jasper, who made his fortune with the project management software platform Aconex, said ProcurePro is another example of Australia leading the way in construction tech.

“Procurement in construction projects has long been a painful, opaque and manual process. By finally solving this problem, ProcurePro’s product lets customers save time and money and make better decisions about a project and their business,” he said.

“The team’s growth and penetration in Australia in a short period of time has been impressive.”