In construction, the most expensive projects are the ones a firm never sees. Somewhere right now, a bond has been filed, a site has changed hands, and the winner of a nine-figure project is already being decided, months before an RFP exists. Cascade, the AI pursuit platform for architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) firms, is changing that. Today, the company announced it has raised $3.5 million from Andreessen Horowitz Speedrun, Ada Ventures, Blitzscaling Ventures, Indico Capital, shuckerVC, G2C Ventures and Snowball VC.
The traction has come fast. In a few months, Cascade has signed AEC customers whose work spans some of the world’s most notorious projects – including JFK, LaGuardia, data centers and nuclear reactors.
The signs arrive years before the bid
Long before an RFP, a multi million dollar project leaves traces. A bond filing is a project taking shape. A property changing hands is a developer moving. A line in a county capital plan is a building that does not exist yet, and a firm somewhere is going to win it. Cascade detects these events continuously across bond filings, permits, capital plans, property transactions, earnings transcripts, budget announcements and meeting minutes, and connects them to what they signal: where work is forming, what kind, and who is positioned to win it.
The tools the industry relies on read none of this.
Cascade closes the gap. It anticipates projects as they form, scores each one for fit so firms pursue the work they are most likely to win, and surfaces warm paths in through relationships already sitting in Outlook and other software. Every customer makes the system sharper: each pursuit teaches it which signals matter, which firms are credible for which work, and where teaming opportunities exist.
Built by Amazon and Google operators, pulled in by the market
Cascade was founded by Hannia Zia and Joana Ferreira, two former Google operators who met at UnlikelyAI, the startup founded by the inventor of Amazon Alexa. There, Hannia served as VP of Product and Joana led the AI platform, building a knowledge graph of the world’s information and training LLM agents to navigate it.
Their route into construction was personal as much as commercial. Joana grew up in a Portuguese town built on construction and carpentry. Hannia’s father tried to start a construction business, but it failed. Hannia’s conversations with CFOs in New York produced Cascade’s first customer, Munoz Engineering, and a conference in Denver quickly brought the next.
The funding will accelerate adoption and deepen Cascade’s network across the industry. Even building a house takes twenty companies coming together, and multimillion-dollar projects take an order of magnitude more. As more firms join, Cascade matches them to each other: partners to bid with, connections in new regions, teaming opportunities across the US. The platform gets stronger with every firm that joins, and so does every firm on it.
The team’s overall ambition runs the full arc of a project. Cascade intends to be there at the first trace of work forming, through the pursuit, the win and the build, until the day of handoff.
Cascade raises $3.5M to help construction firms predict the future and win more projects
Posted in Commentary with tags Cascade on July 21, 2026 by itnerdIn construction, the most expensive projects are the ones a firm never sees. Somewhere right now, a bond has been filed, a site has changed hands, and the winner of a nine-figure project is already being decided, months before an RFP exists. Cascade, the AI pursuit platform for architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) firms, is changing that. Today, the company announced it has raised $3.5 million from Andreessen Horowitz Speedrun, Ada Ventures, Blitzscaling Ventures, Indico Capital, shuckerVC, G2C Ventures and Snowball VC.
The traction has come fast. In a few months, Cascade has signed AEC customers whose work spans some of the world’s most notorious projects – including JFK, LaGuardia, data centers and nuclear reactors.
The signs arrive years before the bid
Long before an RFP, a multi million dollar project leaves traces. A bond filing is a project taking shape. A property changing hands is a developer moving. A line in a county capital plan is a building that does not exist yet, and a firm somewhere is going to win it. Cascade detects these events continuously across bond filings, permits, capital plans, property transactions, earnings transcripts, budget announcements and meeting minutes, and connects them to what they signal: where work is forming, what kind, and who is positioned to win it.
The tools the industry relies on read none of this.
Cascade closes the gap. It anticipates projects as they form, scores each one for fit so firms pursue the work they are most likely to win, and surfaces warm paths in through relationships already sitting in Outlook and other software. Every customer makes the system sharper: each pursuit teaches it which signals matter, which firms are credible for which work, and where teaming opportunities exist.
Built by Amazon and Google operators, pulled in by the market
Cascade was founded by Hannia Zia and Joana Ferreira, two former Google operators who met at UnlikelyAI, the startup founded by the inventor of Amazon Alexa. There, Hannia served as VP of Product and Joana led the AI platform, building a knowledge graph of the world’s information and training LLM agents to navigate it.
Their route into construction was personal as much as commercial. Joana grew up in a Portuguese town built on construction and carpentry. Hannia’s father tried to start a construction business, but it failed. Hannia’s conversations with CFOs in New York produced Cascade’s first customer, Munoz Engineering, and a conference in Denver quickly brought the next.
The funding will accelerate adoption and deepen Cascade’s network across the industry. Even building a house takes twenty companies coming together, and multimillion-dollar projects take an order of magnitude more. As more firms join, Cascade matches them to each other: partners to bid with, connections in new regions, teaming opportunities across the US. The platform gets stronger with every firm that joins, and so does every firm on it.
The team’s overall ambition runs the full arc of a project. Cascade intends to be there at the first trace of work forming, through the pursuit, the win and the build, until the day of handoff.
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