APROPLAN Closes €5 Million in Series A Round Funding

APROPLAN just closed its series A round of venture capital financing in Brussels this week with €5 million of investments. The funding event attracted some big name investors including Fortino Capital founder, Duco Sickinghe and Showpad founder, Pieterjan Bouten. The investment will allow APROPLAN to develop new features that will further improve on-site user experience. Moreover, the funding will facilitate the expansion of its marketing and sales capabilities. APROPLAN’s successful funding just goes to show how the construction tech is thriving in Europe.
From the start, APROPLAN has aimed to simplify construction management and in effect, the construction sector. It has always been APROPLAN CEO Thomas Goubau’s dream to digitise the historical slow-evolving industry. “APROPLAN is changing the construction industry the same way Salesforce changed the sales industry,” Goubau says. “Salesforce created the 360 degree customer view and we are giving all parties on the construction site a 360 degree view of the on-site project information.”

Mobile Gadgets Over Pen and Paper

It was in 2012 when APROPLAN launched its application. The goal was to help construction professionals cut down on cost and save time through a rich database of information in a shared easy-to-use interface.
The solution was replacing pen and paper with a reliable mutually shared app for tablets and smartphones. This app makes communication, logging, and reporting of tasks within construction projects easier. For any construction and construction-related site, APROPLAN’s real-time digital working space provides “one version of the truth” that reduces distrust among different work teams (that usually result to work disputes).
“On average, construction projects that use traditional methods to communicate and log progress take 20% longer than expected to finish and run up to 80% over budget,” Thomas Goubau explains. The 2015 McKinsey study shows the same data about construction projects missing deadlines and going over budget. APROPLAN’s app has tools specifically for managing the building process and maintaining buildings. APROPLAN is the perfect industry partner throughout a building’s life cycle.

Scalability

Current construction industry leaders like BAM, Besix, and CFE are using APROPLAN to manage their construction projects and construction sites. In Belgium, APROPLAN and its software has assisted constructions like the Docks Bruxsel Shopping Center and the Gateway Building.
The APROPLAN series A round attracted a lot of Belgian start-up icons like Pieterjan Bouten of Showpad and Duco Sickinghe of Fortino Capital as mentioned earlier. Sickinghe invested in Teamleader and Real Impact Analytics before. These two are the most widely recognised successful Belgian start-up stories. Bouten’s Showpad, on the other hand, raised €50 million during its Series C round last spring. “We invest in B2B SaaS scale-ups in the Benelux region that are focused on implementing industry-wide innovations,” says Duco Sickinghe. “We are convinced of APROPLAN’s ambitious plans to bring digital change to the construction industry and see a promising future ahead. At Fortino, we are also keen to invest in promising leaders and look forward to seeing APROPLAN’s continued growth under Thomas Goubau’s leadership.”
”APROPLAN is a company in a red hot sector – construction stand to gain a lot from getting rid of pen and paper and replacing them with a tablet,” says Pieterjan Bouten, “I see APROPLAN as the Showpad of the construction sector. At Showpad, we help salespeople and marketing teams work more efficiently together – APROPLAN is doing the same thing but for construction site teams.”

Partners and Prizes

Deloitte recently named APROPLAN as part of its Top Ten of its Fast Tech 50 for 2016. Startups.be also nominated APROPLAN for its Scale-Up of the Year Award last February 2017.
Just this March of 2016, ADEB-VBA, the association of major Belgian contractors, partnered with APROPLAN to standardise the digitalisation of the Belgian construction sector. This partnership gives Belgium’s largest construction companies such as BAM, BESIX and CFE, access to APROPLAN’s application that benefits all stakeholders in construction projects.

The European Construction Tech Sector

According to the European Commission, the construction sector generates about 9% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the European Union and provides 18 million direct jobs. The EU’s internal market offers its international partners access to more than 500 million people and approximately €13 trillion in GDP. The industry is predicted to experience an 85% growth by 2030. The construction tech sector is booming to address the need for efficient and effective tools that keep projects on track.

About APROPLAN

APROPLAN is a digital solution that gives construction professionals the tools to create the projects of tomorrow. It removes pen and paper from the construction site, infusing clear communications through lean process management. APROPLAN reduces administrative burden and increases on-site productivity by creating a shared, trustworthy environment for all project stakeholders.
APROPLAN wants to enable its users to digitize their processes through a user friendly interface, allow its users to comply with regulations by digitally managing compliance requirements for ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 18001, FDA, VCA (among other technical and legal requirements), interface relevant information with other systems such as BIM, ERP, and partner with professional organisations in digitising construction processes and contribute to the digital transformation of the construction industry (such as the recent partnership with ADEB-VBA in digitising the Belgian construction sector).
APROPLAN is available for both Windows and Mac OS as well as Android and iOS. Try it now for free. For more technical information, contact our sales or support teams.

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