Plural invests in Amsterdam-based robotics startup Monumental

Plural, founded by Estonian entrepreneurs Sten Tamkivi and Taavet Hinrikus, has invested in Monumental, an Amsterdam-based startup that develops robots for construction sites. The fund co-led a €25 million round with London-based VC Hummingbird. UK VC Northzone, Germany's Foundamental (investor in construction tech, architecture, engineering, and design technology), and Amsterdam-based NP-Hard Ventures also participated in the round. 

Founded in 2021 by Salar al Khafaji and Sebastiaan Visser, Monumental designs hardware and software, and uses AI technology for self-driving cars and robotic parts. The company designs robots that are bricklayers. They work in groups of three: one picks up bricks from a pile and carries them over to the bricklaying robot. The next one delivers mortar (building material used to glue the bricks together). The bricklaying robot has two tower cranes that allow it to lay bricks from the ground level up to the top of a building’s ground floor. For higher floors, the robot drives onto a scissor lift, which lifts it up. Finally, the bricklayer applies mortar and lays the bricks autonomously. 

Monumental generates revenue, by selling bricklaying services that include a human bricklayer. He manages the work of the robots and does some of the work that the robots cannot do. 

The robotics company will use the investment to expand its fleet of robots, which now consists of four teams of three. The startup also plans to expand its team.

In 2016, the startup’s co-founder Salar al Khafaji sold his company SIlk (software that helps people visualise data) to US data analytics giant Palantir for an undisclosed sum.

Founded in 2022 by Sten Tamkivi, Taavet Hinrikus, Ian Hogarth, and Khaled Helioui, Plural focuses on leading early-stage rounds between €1 and €10M. In 2023, a new partner, the founder of AI-driven biotech HelixNano founder and VC investor Carina Namih, joined Plural. In January 2024, the fund raised a new €400M fund from the US and European institutions and family funds.