LeanCon Raises $6M to Compress Pre-Construction from Months to Minutes
LeanCon, founded by Ziv Levi '24 and Sapir Tubul, closed a $6 million seed round, doubling its original $3 million target. Ibex Investors led the round with participation from Fusion VC, Newman Architects, TCA LA, Connecticut Innovations, Siegel Capital, and experienced angels across construction, real estate, and tech. Backers include Phil Bernstein, former VP of AEC at Autodesk and current Deputy Dean at the Yale School of Architecture.
What the product does
LeanCon is building an AI-powered pre-construction engineering team. The platform generates scope, cost, logistics, and sequence plans in about seven minutes at near-zero cost.
Compared to the months-long, seven-figure process many teams endure, the company reports 90% accuracy and 20% shorter schedules. That speed lets general contractors and developers evaluate 100x more opportunities and bid with confidence.
The bottleneck they're attacking
Pre-construction teams screen hundreds of deals, yet roughly 8% advance. Manual estimates, fragmented data, and back-and-forth with subs burn time and budget before a project even starts.
- Scope definition
- Cost estimation
- Logistics planning
- Construction sequencing and scheduling
The system blends insights from past projects with proprietary data to reflect each client's methods and risk preferences. It also surfaces efficiencies teams might miss under deadline pressure.
Deployed on live work
According to the company, the platform is already in use on more than $650 million in active development across New York. LeanCon is working closely with one of the largest privately held construction and real estate firms in the country.
"This milestone directly accelerates LeanCon's mission because it enables us to finalize the development of our core technology and scale it into a product that will create a significant impact on the industry, fundamentally transforming the way construction projects are analyzed, bid, and planned," said Levi.
Investors liked the focus on the phase that sets cost, schedule, and risk. "Our core operating belief is that construction begins long before the first shovel hits the ground... this phase, which has traditionally been analog, chaotic, and reliant on intuition, represents the last truly untouched frontier ripe for massive disruption," Levi said.
Why it matters for owners, developers, and GCs
- Bid more projects without adding headcount.
- Cut early-stage guesswork and variance with standardized outputs.
- Stress-test options against benchmarks and current market data.
- Use data-backed projections to align with owners, lenders, and subs.
- Adaptable to public-sector planning, where fewer overruns benefit taxpayers.
Roadmap: next 12-18 months
LeanCon will focus on product-market fit and building for durable growth. The team is also investing in strategic expansion and a strong company culture to support the next stages.
"We aren't simply improving an old process," said Levi. "We are building the intelligent operating layer that delivers automated, structured planning and AI-driven cost, time and risk insights. This capability immediately converts what was a point of chaos into a predictable, high-margin engine for general contractors and developers."
Who backed the round
- Lead: Ibex Investors
- Participants: Fusion VC, Newman Architects, TCA LA, Connecticut Innovations, Siegel Capital, and industry angels including Phil Bernstein
If you're building AI skills in-house
For teams upskilling in AI for estimating, scheduling, and development workflows, explore curated options by job role at Complete AI Training.
Read more about LeanCon and Ziv's path from SOM to full-time founder.
Your membership also unlocks:
