To address the multi-billion euro repair backlog of Europe’s aging bridges and tunnels, Munich-based Sitegeist has raised €4 million in pre-seed funding. The round was co-led by b2venture and OpenOcean, with participation from UnternehmerTUM and several prominent angel investors including Verena Pausder and Lea-Sophie Cramer.
The big picture: Infrastructure renovation—particularly concrete repair—is a labor-intensive quagmire facing massive staffing shortages. Traditional automation requires standardized sites or pre-existing 3D models, making it nearly impossible to deploy on the crumbling, unstructured environments of active renovation projects.
How it works:
- Modular Design: Sitegeist builds robots that operate directly on existing structures like bridges and parking facilities.
- Adaptive Sensing: Using AI-based decision support, the systems handle complex geometries and material variations without prior digitization.
- Precision Execution: The robots perform high-pressure water removal of deteriorated concrete, protecting steel reinforcements more reliably than manual labor.
The catch: While modularity solves the problem of site specificity, the construction environment is notoriously hostile to sensitive hardware. Operating high-pressure water systems in close proximity to AI sensors and robotic joints creates a high risk of mechanical failure and frequent maintenance downtime. Furthermore, much like other players in construction AI, Sitegeist must prove its robots can be operated by existing site crews without requiring a specialized (and expensive) robotics engineer on-site for every project.
Key Details
- Funding: €4M (Pre-Seed)
- Lead: b2venture, OpenOcean
- CEO: Dr. Lena-Marie Pätzmann
- Sector: Construction Tech / Robotics
