Ecobot had previously expanded with its 2020 acquisition of competitor Wetform [ENR 9/7/20 p. 89]. This latest funding round will allow Ecobot to further grow its sales presence and build out future integrations with digital twin workflows, says Lance. Investors in this funding round were led by Cultivation Capital, Cofounders Capital and Runway Venture Partners.  

Ecobot’s app offers a faster way to fill out required wetlands documentation paperwork.
Photo courtesy of Ecobot

One new change at Ecobot is the addition of longtime industry executive Grant McCullagh to the Ecobot board of directors. “I’ve always been interested in intellectual property that really focuses on automating and simplifying the collection and analysis of data at every phase of the process,” says McCullagh, who had previously served as vice chairman of AECOM and now acts as an advisor to several construction technology firms. “With wetlands, it’s so vastly different across different regions, and the regulations can change so rapidly,” he observes. “If you’ve got a system to automate the update of that information, that eliminates a whole layer of work for scientists and field managers prepping the reports.”

Lack of properly documented site data is a major obstacle to long-term planning, notes Lance. And getting this wetlands compliance data into digital twins is the next step. “There’s a gap we’re going to fill—we’re creating a better understanding of the natural environment.”