Following Big Acquisitions and Funding Announcements, Southeast Construction Tech Gains Momentum

Key Takeaways

• Major acquisitions and a new unicorn valuation are putting Southeast construction tech in the spotlight
• Atlanta’s Punch, which recently raised $2 million, shows where early-stage startups see an opening: using AI to cut paperwork for construction crews

ATLANTA, November 2 (Hypepotamus) - A big blue walkie-talkie button. 

It’s a simple UI/UX design at the center of the app built by Punch, an Atlanta-based construction intelligence platform. For CEO Taylor Sandusky, it is about getting technology into the hands of workers in the field…without forcing them to learn or keep up with new tools. All they have to do is talk. 

The Atlanta startup uses AI to turn those conversations into daily reports, material orders, and schedule updates. Its pitch? Workers and subcontractors already know what’s happening on a construction site. Getting that information back to the office shouldn’t require stopping to fill out another form.

That approach is winning over early customers. Sandusky said early users have even  introduced their direct competitors to Punch. When the startup offered customers room to invest in its latest funding round, almost every customer participated. It is also winning over investors. Punch recently announced $2 million in funding from returning investor Gutter Capital, with plans to expand engineering, customer support, sales, and growth.

Getting Buy-In On The Construction Site 

Sandusky knows the paperwork problem firsthand. Raised in McDonough, he studied construction at Georgia Tech and worked as a project engineer and project manager

But he got the startup itch, and ending up spending more than six years at Atlanta automotive software startup Clutch Technologies (acquired by Cox Automotive in 2018). It was at Clutch that Sandusky learned about what it takes to build and scale a SaaS business. 

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Now, he was quick to point out that there are plenty of cloud software tools that have been brought onto construction worksites over the last few years. But those asked people doing physical work to stop, navigate software, and enter information for the office.

Punch’s opportunity is to remove that friction.

“Now with AI, you can completely rethink the workflow,” Sandusky said.

He launched the product with his first customer as a design partner while participating in Elbow Grease, a three-month accelerator in New York. Accelerator funding supported his first hire.

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Today, Punch has two full-time employees based at Atlanta Tech Village, plus several part-time team members.

For smaller contractors, Punch offers a first step beyond spreadsheets, PDFs, and email. For larger companies, it fits alongside existing construction software.

What’s Behind The ConstructionTech Boom? 

Punch is growing within the Southeast ConstructionTech ecosystem. Other startups include SmartPM (Atlanta), ThreadKore (Alpharetta), BotBuilt (Durham), Built (Nashville), Branch (Chattanooga), Gumption (Chattanooga), ProNovos (Atlanta), Prokeep (New Orleans), Green Badger (Savannah), and NewCrew (Atlanta).

The sector has produced some major investments and exits recently. 

Alpharetta, Georgia-based Kahua, which makes software for managing complex construction programs, reached a valuation above $1 billion following a September minority growth investment from Bain Capital Tech Opportunities. Trimble acquired Atlanta’s Document Crunch this year and construction billing platform Flashtract in 2024. Atlanta-based Ladder was also acquired in early 2025, and New Orleans-based Levelset was acquired for $500 million in 2021. 

So what’s behind the boom? 

Part of that comes down to the data center, of course. Atlanta led North America in data center capacity under construction in the first half of 2026, according to a recent CBRE report. But it is also because of the region’s sheer number of construction companies that serve as potential customers for these new startups. That includes industry giants like Pulte Group, Holder Construction, Brasfield & Gorrie, Innventure, and Cardinal Infrastructure Group. 

Featured Photo by Josh Olalde / Unsplash