Monumental

Amsterdam-based construction robotics company Monumental raised a $32 million Series B led by Khosla Ventures, Fortune learned exclusively. bit.ly/4psZ9bz

Another awesome robotics company raised funds in Europe. 🇪🇺 This time a company that is shipping robots that build! @BuildMonumental has raised $32M Series B led by Khosla Ventures, and its fleet of autonomous bricklaying robots has already built more than 100 real structures across Europe. Houses. A school. A community centre. A hotel. Canal walls. Founded by @salar al Khafaji and Sebastiaan Visser, the co-founders of data visualisation firm Silk, acquired by Palantir in 2016, this is a team that knows how to build and sell a company. The technology is serious: → Fleet of 100+ electric autonomous robots operating on live job sites today → Advanced sensors, computer vision and small cranes laying brick to millimetre precision → All driven by Atrium, their proprietary AI software platform → Nearly half of all homes built in the last three months alone, pace is compounding fast The business model is also worth taking a look at. Contractors don't buy the robots. They hire Monumental as an autonomous subcontractor and pay for finished wall. So in the end you only pay for the output. This is the same forward-deployed engineering model Palantir pioneered in software. Monumental brought it to physical robotics years before anyone else in the industry caught on. The backdrop makes this urgent. US construction is short 200,000-400,000 workers every month. Since 1945, US manufacturing productivity rose eightfold. Construction gained just 10%, and has actually declined since the 1960s. LET'S MAKE CONSTRUCTION BUSINESSES SEXY AGAIN! 🧱 ~~ ♻️ Join the weekly robotics newsletter, and never miss any news → ziegler.substack.com

one of my most optimistic AI predictions is that it will allow us to build beautifully again. the reason so much old architecture was beautiful is that construction was organized around craftsmanship, and people expected buildings to be beautiful. stone, wood, and brick already had to be shaped and placed by hand, so the workers, tools, and supply chains capable of adding detail were built into the process. then the 20th century changed the economics. cities needed huge amounts of housing fast, skilled labor became expensive, and construction shifted toward standardized plans and mass-produced parts. every unique arch, window, or facade became an expensive exception requiring custom drawings, parts, specialists, and time. so the cheapest building became a simple box that was easy to repeat. i mean just look at any modern skyline. it’s the same ugly glass skyscraper repeated from city to city, with very little detail, local character, or differentiation. which explains why historic neighborhoods are still among the most sought-after parts of so many cities. isn’t that backwards? if the future is better, shouldn’t the newest neighborhoods be the ones everyone dreams of living in?? i think AI and robotics will finally reverse the economics. > AI will make beautiful buildings cheap to design and engineer. > robotics will make them cheap to physically build. and the cost difference between a plain box and a detailed facade will collapse. (the bricklaying robots below are an early version of this) you've already seen the digital version of this. building a beautiful website used to require expensive designers and developers. now one person can vibe one in an hour with AI. the same will happen with buildings. people just need to care about beauty again.

@vkhosla @seikatsu @ileri @barendvandenb Btw some people seem to think this is still just about pick and place. Not true! Our robots can pick up tools that do insane precision work to finish the job. Go look at how we bend and insert those wall ties!

@ianwong_ @salar So exciting to have your support!

Congrats @salar and team @BuildMonumental! Unrelenting focus and execution.

Monumental is cooking. One of the most exciting companies I've gotten to be a part of. (And one of the most impressive founders.) Brick by brick.

@nabeelqu @salar @khoslaventures @pluralplatform @HummingbirdVC thank you @nabeelqu !

@salar @BuildMonumental @khoslaventures @pluralplatform @HummingbirdVC This is so sick congrats @salar!

Today, we’re announcing an oversubscribed $32 million round at @BuildMonumental led by @khoslaventures, with participation from @pluralplatform and @HummingbirdVC.

@thekaranchawla @salar @khoslaventures @pluralplatform @HummingbirdVC thank you @thekaranchawla !

@salar @BuildMonumental @khoslaventures @pluralplatform @HummingbirdVC this is incredible @salar congratulations!

Excited to have you in @vkhosla. Making housing affordable and beautiful.

@zach_nomad it really is

Building is back

This is what we're working on relentlessly, and what will happen eventually. Great take by @_sholtodouglas.

Today, we’re announcing an oversubscribed $32 million round led by @khoslaventures , with participation from @pluralplatform and @HummingbirdVC A real milestone and a chance to reflect on what it takes to turn an idea in robotics into a reliable, revenue-generating product. 🧵

8/ As an added bonus, looking forward to working on @BuildMonumental board with @vkhosla of all people - been a while since he grilled me in his @StanfordGSB class!

7/ This profile of Monumental and Salar by @LilyMaeLazarus in @FortuneMagazine today is well worth your time if you’d like to read more: fortune.com/2026/07/15/con…

6/ Congratulations to @salar and @sfvisser, who are executing so relentlessly to build a better physical world.

5/ @BuildMonumental fleet now numbers over 150 robots working across the Netherlands, the UK, and soon, the US. These robots have now built more than 100 homes, nearly half of which were built in the last three months alone.

4/ Over the last two years, @BuildMonumental has become one of the most deployed autonomous construction operators in the world, solving a global-scale problem from the heart of Europe.

3/The UK, where @BuildMonumental now has expanded to, shows the scale of the issue. UK needs 20,000+ more bricklayers to hit its housebuilding target, while only around 1,990 qualified last year. That 10X gap pattern repeats across virtually every developed economy.

2/ We first backed @BuildMonumental in 2024 because we genuinely believe in its mission: deploying bricklaying robots that build beautiful homes quickly and affordably, as Europe's housing crisis escalates and its labour shortage deepens.

1/ Very pleased to share that @pluralplatform has doubled down on @BuildMonumental as part of its $32m Series B, led by @khoslaventures