Genia Raises $3M for its AI that Generates Physics-Validated Structural Plans

While general AI models have continued to enjoy the spotlight, a subset of entrepreneurs are tackling more vertical, life-changing problems but demand a level of specialization that foundational AI models can’t achieve yet. This is where Genia steps in.

Genia, founded in Los Angeles, is coming out of the gate with US $3 million in funding and debuting a new physics-validated generative AI platform, the Genia Structural CoPilot. Specialized for the construction industry, Genia’s solution enables engineers to rapidly validate structural designs ten times faster than with traditional means.

Building under pressure: The challenges reshaping the construction industry

Why does this matter? Natural disasters like the recent Palisade fires in Los Angeles can overwhelm local engineering contractors, limiting their capacity to fulfill sudden demand for new projects. Sustainable development, such as “adaptive reuse,” requires repurposing structures, often demanding significant time to assess reinforcement or redevelopment needs. On top of that, rising interest rates are putting even more pressure on the construction industry.

Typically, for structural engineering consultancies, analyzing designs from architecture firms and adapting them for structural integrity is incredibly labor-intensive. Most of the work is done through Excel or pen and paper. Designing a 20-story tower isn’t just an overnight process. It could require more than 15 engineers working on the project for 18 months and could total 750,000 manual calculations. On top of this, planning permissions can be rejected as often as 40% of the time due to human error in the design process.

For homeowners in the U.S., this could mean a wait of not just months, but sometimes years.

“Generative design is critical to solving this bottleneck and we believe Genia’s solution will become the go-to tool,” said Faisal Butt, Managing Partner and Founder of Pi Labs. “It could be a game changer in facilitating offsite construction, enabling shorter build times, lower costs and more sustainable carbon profiles for projects.”

First rule-based AI instantly generates structurally sound designs

Co-founded by ex-Amazon engineer, Zhihao Zhao, and ex-Arup structural engineer Robin Li, along with software entrepreneur Houtao Wang and generative AI researcher Peter Dai, Genia’s manages to dramatically reduce time-consuming manual calculations. Engineers can simply upload PDFs or AutoCAD files to the Genia Structural CoPilot, which conducts rules-based structural analysis algorithmically. The AI instantly outputs up to five structurally sound design options — all of which offer optimizations for cost, feasibility and stability in construction, and sustainability. Not only this but the design options are fully actionable as Genia even accompanies each design with a detailed materials selection list, which is optimized to reduce material use by up to 20%.

What’s even more groundbreaking is that the Genia Structural CoPilot is based on a generative AI model that the Genia team has developed entirely from scratch. But according to Genia, this was a solution born out of necessity. While OpenAI’s GPT or other solutions can output designs, these are merely conceptual architectural designs. Genia’s approach is an industry first and takes things a step further. By conducting precise physics-based calculations, Genia’s AI model knows exactly which materials can be used to offer structurally sound designs.

“They’ll tell you that you need to have a beam to connect the walls, but it can’t tell you what type of beam and the exact measurements and coordinates that the beam needs to be designed with,” Zhihao Zhao, Co-Founder and CEO of Genia explains in reference to the generic AI models on the market. “Genia comes in with pixel-level accuracy and offers physics-backed measurements.”

Despite insufficient availability of structural engineering designs that would be needed to train AI models, Genia has taken a radical approach. It not only uses both open-source and client designs, but also leverages an in-house team of engineers to develop simulated designs that are fed into its training algorithm. These designs are then cross-referenced and validated with a material database provided through an industry-first partnership with leading American building material suppliers, including Weyerhaeuser’s ForteWeb and Simpson Strong-Tie.

Major construction contractor bets on Genia

In fact, Genia has jumped out of the gate, inking a deal with one of North America’s largest construction contractors, Suffolk Construction, which will repurpose out-of-use buildings including schools or warehouses and turn them into residential or office spaces. This means reimagining and reinforcing a building’s structural integrity to accommodate its new purpose but avoids demolition and reduces the environmental impact while preserving the heritage of existing structures.

“Genia combines AI with code-based checks in a truly innovative way, ensuring that structural designs are both AI-generated and code-compliant. In an era where AI is often overused as a buzzword, Genia stands out by integrating it meaningfully into their design engine,” said Dr. Murat Melek SE, Design AI director at Suffolk Construction.

Genia’s first round totaling US $3 million in investment was led by venture capital firm Pi Labs, and saw participation from early-stage investors Amplify, Boost VC, Dorm Room Fund, Suffolk Technologies, Y Startup Index, Moatable founder Joseph Chen and Scale AI executives.

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