Who are you and what do you do?
80 percent of all construction projects in Germany end up being significantly more expensive than planned, 60 percent are completed too late or with grave deficiencies, and architects and site managers still have to put in overtime every week to even manage construction projects. That’s mainly due to outdated and paper-based processes. In construction, fax machines are still used by more people than digital solutions.
Europe’s construction industry is the second most undigitized sector
It doesn’t surprise anyone that after the hunting and fishing industries, the construction industry is the second most undigitized of all. We want to change that with Capmo! We realized that the prevalence of tablets and smartphones on construction sites opens up new opportunities. It’s suddenly possible to work digitally on construction sites with user-friendly devices. To change things in the construction industry, you need easy-to-use but powerful software that works on all devices both online and offline. That is Capmo – an intuitive, plan-based SaaS solution that can be used to quickly and easily manage all processes in construction projects. With Capmo, users have an overview of all processes and are always up to date. That makes Capmo more than a simple project management tool: For everyone in construction who wants to stay on top of their projects, Capmo is their new best friend. That includes daily project documentation, defect management and even adding, allocating and tracking tasks and messages. That’s how we’re making a major contribution to digitizing one of the biggest and most important industries in Europe!
Why do you think it’s so difficult to digitize the construction industry?
In many areas, the construction industry is just beginning to deal with digitization. It’s completely normal for people to have some reservations at that stage. It was the same with online shopping and CAD software in the beginning. What’s most important is to tackle digitization step by step and to get the users involved. Software with lots of functions that isn’t accepted by users isn’t much help in the end.
And how is business going?
It couldn’t be better. Since founding the company roughly a year ago, we’ve grown from a team of four to nearly twenty. In the first twelve months, we gained more than 100 customers and have supported the digital processing of approximately 1,000 construction projects.
We’re also particularly proud of the fact that our solution has been used for prestigious projects like the Kiel University Hospital, the Munich Hilton Hotel renovation and for building several kindergartens and student dorms. What motivates us at Capmo is to help construction pros complete exceptional projects that they can be proud of. To continue to grow at the same pace, we completed a financing round of just under 2 million with UVC Partners and HW Capital in December 2018. We’re looking for motivated talent in all fields right now to work with us in digitizing the construction industry!
Last year during the Munich startup event “Startup trifft Handwerk” (Startups meet Trade Crafts), you introduced yourselves to a larger audience – were you able to take anything away in concrete terms?
The event was a total success for us. We won over some of our key customers there and had so much positive feedback from the participants from the trade crafts and construction industry. It was of equal importance for us to increase the participants’ awareness of digitization. Regardless of how good the software for the industry might be – the user is always the top priority!
More offers for “internationals”
How do you view Munich as a startup location? What do you think is good, and what do you think is missing?
Munich is the ideal startup location for us. Thanks to organizations and initiatives like the CDTM (which is where we met as a founding team), Werk1 and the wide array of startup events, we couldn’t imagine a better location for us, especially in the early phase. Munich is also a super location for us when looking for employees thanks to its excellent universities. But when it comes to offers for “internationals,” Munich could definitely step things up a bit to make the city even more attractive to international talent.
As a whole, we’re extremely happy that Munich is home to Capmo. Munich is not only a super startup location, but also the hotspot for the German construction and real estate industries. All major construction and industry trade shows are held in Munich, and many of the key construction players are located in Munich or nearby.
Last but not least: What is your vision for Capmo?
Capmo develops software for the construction industry. There are 10 million civil engineers in Europe alone – and the construction industry generated revenues of over 14 trillion euros last year across the world. One of every ten jobs in the world is somehow connected to construction. We think the people with the world’s hardest jobs also deserve to have fantastic software that makes their jobs easier. Regardless of whether they’re renovating an apartment or building a hospital. At Capmo, the goal of our daily work is to lead the construction industry into the digital future to keep construction projects from getting out of control, make housing affordable again and make it fun to take on even complex construction projects.