Build Raises $8.5 Million From Index Ventures to Redefine How Infrastructure Gets Built

Build.inc, the AI-native infrastructure company helping governments, developers and investors accelerate critical projects, has raised $8.5 million in seed funding led by Index Ventures. pebblebed, Puzzle Ventures and Tiny Supercomputer Investment Company also participated alongside a range of angels, including OpenAI chief financial officer Sarah Friar, Blackstone chief technology officer John Stecher and senior figures from OpenAI, Meta AI Research and Google Maps.

The company will use the funding to expand its engineering and infrastructure teams, accelerate R&D and deepen its presence across North America and Europe. Its long-term goal is to automate the development lifecycle, from site selection and due diligence through permitting, engineering, pre-construction and asset management, creating what it calls “agentic real estate”.

James Stirrat-Ellis, co-founder and CEO of Build, said, “The industries shaping the physical world have spent decades trapped in process instead of creativity. By removing that operational burden, we can help teams move faster, make better decisions and deliver better infrastructure. That’s the long-term opportunity and we’re only at the beginning of it.”

Martin Mignot, partner at Index Ventures, said, “Build represents a new generation of AI companies focused on delivering actual work rather than simply improving software workflows. James and Ben have combined deep technical capability with real operational understanding of how critical infrastructure gets built. The infrastructure challenge is global and what the team has achieved before launch is extraordinary.”

Ophelia Cai, partner at Tiny.vc, said, “What stood out immediately about Build was the ambition of the vision and the speed of execution. James and Ben understood early that AI was about to move beyond software and begin transforming how real-world work gets done. Infrastructure remains one of the largest untapped opportunities for AI and Build is creating a completely new model for how critical projects are delivered.”