The amount of waste generated by the construction industry constitutes greater than one third of the total amount of waste produced every 12 months in the European Union. And it’s no higher in the United States, the construction industry produces greater than double the amount of waste that households make every 12 months.
Sensorita wants to help the construction industry reduce waste by fixing what Sensorita co-founder and CEO Ulrikke Lien sees as the root of the problem: a lack of reliable data in the industry. Lien told TechCrunch that many waste management companies collect waste from so many construction sites that they often don’t know where their bins are, how much there is, or when they need to be emptied.
“From the very beginning, what stood out then and is still true today, is that the data that they have access to in the industry is so limited,” Lien said. “If you compare it to any other process industry, there’s no one who has embraced the level of data, insights or knowledge, and that’s a common problem.”
The Oslo-based startup places its sensors in construction waste bins and uses radar and machine learning technology to create digital twins of each bin. Waste companies can then use Sensorita’s software to get updates on the bins’ locations and fill levels, and use the data to higher plan collections.
“Today, they walk around and monitor fill levels with their eyes; that’s a big problem if you have to spend 45 minutes of your day checking fill levels,” Lien said. “It’s a very low-margin industry. Waste management companies can use that information to streamline and reduce costs and time.”
Lien got here up with the idea for the company in 2020 while she was earning her engineering degree at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. She initially wanted to build something for the municipal—household—waste sector, but she realized there have been already a lot of startups trying to sell their technology to those players. Plus, household waste is fragmented and supported by public money, meaning it will be really hard to gain traction.
So Sensorita turned to construction waste, which has been its focus ever since. The company initially approached Ragn-Sells, a large construction company, with the idea. The company gave them $10,000, and Sensorita began building, launching its first pilot in February 2022. Since then, it has built a relationship with Ragn-Sells and has three additional clients.
“We had traction from the very beginning,” Lien said. “Whenever you talk to a new waste company, they face the same challenges with the level of information.”
The company is coming out of stealth with $3.25 million in enterprise capital funding. The round was led by construction-focused VC Brick and Mortar Ventures with participation from telecom major Telenor. The company has raised a total of $6 million, about a third of which is in grant funding.
Lien met Brick and Mortar Ventures partner Guillaume Bazouin in 2022 when they sat next to each other at the Finnish Slush conference. At the time, Bazouin was working at Leonard, a startup accelerator run by Vinci, a Paris-based construction company. When Bazouin joined Brick and Mortar Ventures almost a 12 months later, he told TechCrunch, he knew he wanted the company to back Sensorita.
“Waste management in construction is a huge problem,” Bazouin said. “The reason it’s coming to the surface is because there’s a lot of regulation and regulatory pressure in Europe to start tracking it effectively.”
Lien said Sensorita plans to use the funds to expand its team and proceed investing in technology. She added that they have really strong traction in Norway and are looking to expand outside the region. The company is developing its sensor technology to have the ability to determine what form of material is in a given bin. They also hope to create a virtual assistant for the waste management industry.
“It’s very difficult to improve anything when you don’t know what the situation is,” Lien said. Sensorita seems to be the first step.