Cemex Ventures and its global partners announce the first Gold Winner of the 2026 edition following the APAC Pitch Day held in Singapore. The competition will continue with its next Pitch Days in Las Vegas and Helsinki.
Cemex Ventures, together with its partners Caterpillar, Dysruptek by Haskell, Hilti Ventures, Leonard by VINCI, NOVA by Saint-Gobain, Trimble, Zacua Ventures and the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) of Singapore, has announced Civils.ai as the APAC Gold Winner of Construction Startup Competition 2026.
The start-up secured the first Gold Winner title of this year’s competition after pitching its solution alongside four other finalists during the APAC Pitch Day in Singapore.
The event represents the first of three Pitch Days that will define the Gold Winners of Construction Startup Competition 2026, with the next stages set to take place in Las Vegas and Helsinki, during RecoTech.
Five start-ups were selected to compete in Singapore:
- Arbel.ai
- Bton.io
- Civils.ai
- ConcreteAI
- LIGHTYX
The jury evaluation, Civils.ai was selected as the APAC Gold Winner for its AI-powered platform designed to automate some of the most repetitive and error-prone tasks in pre-construction. By combining AI-driven quantity takeoffs with intelligent review and cross-checking of complex construction drawings, specifications and project documentation, Civils.ai enables teams to significantly reduce manual effort, improve accuracy and identify potential issues earlier in the project lifecycle. Its construction-specific approach has the potential to increase the capacity of estimating and preconstruction teams while enabling faster, more reliable and data-driven decision-making across the industry.
The APAC Gold Winner award was presented to Civils.ai by Jesús Ortiz, Head of Cemex Ventures, and Mr Alvin Tan, Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Development of Singapore, recognising the startup’s achievement as the first Gold Winner of Construction Startup Competition 2026.
The APAC Pitch Day was held in Singapore in the context of International Built Environment Week (IBEW), bringing together startups, construction companies, investors, technology providers and industry leaders from across the built environment ecosystem.
