Cascade raises $3.5M to help construction firms find and win projects
Cascade, a startup focused on helping architecture, engineering, and construction firms secure new work, just announced a $3.5 million seed round. The funding round included participation from Andreessen Horowitz Speedrun, Ada Ventures, and Snowball VC. Founders Hannia Zia and Joana Ferreira launched the company in 2025 to address the fragmented nature of the construction bidding process.
Construction firms often struggle to track opportunities across thousands of municipal, state, and federal portals. Zia describes this current workflow as a constant treasure hunt. The Cascade platform aims to fix this by aggregating project data and using AI to forecast which developers are most likely to win specific contracts. By monitoring historical tender data, the system identifies potential project leads and suggests which firms are best positioned to secure the business.
Since joining the a16z Speedrun program last year, the company has already gained traction with major players in the industry. Cascade counts firms responsible for the construction of major infrastructure projects like the JFK and La Guardia airports among its users. The startup plans to apply the new capital toward expanding its sales operations and recruiting more engineering talent.
Competition in this space includes established players such as GovWin IQ and ConstructConnect. However, Ferreira notes that Cascade distinguishes itself through an AI-native architecture. The platform records user feedback on successful bids, allowing the underlying model to refine its predictions over time. As the company builds a more detailed map of industry bidding trends, it expects to provide increasingly accurate lead generation for its clients.