Construction tech startup builds $3 million pre-Series A after rebrand

Construction engineering platform SPEC Toolbox has raised $3 million in a pre-Series A.

The investment was co-led by Black Nova and Investible.

The Melbourne design software platform specifically for mass timber construction was founded in 2023 by structural engineers Adam Jones and Ringo Thomas as CLT Toolbox, rebranded after realising that design bottlenecks weren’t just a mass timber problem. They now help designers with technical barriers to use other modern materials in construction, automating complex engineering tasks.

SPEC previously raised $1 million bridge round in 2024, less than 12 months after a $1.5 million Seed round in October 2023.

The startup’s backers include Giant Leap, Archangel, Ecotone, Australian Venture Partners, Impact Ventures, Understorey, Flying Fox, Gravel Road, Exhort, Electrifi  and Energy Lab.

SPEC Toolbox CEO Adam Jones said the pre-Series A validates their approach to solving the construction industry’s affordability and sustainability challenges.

“With these funds, we’re accelerating our product roadmap, onboarding new suppliers in new product categories, deepening existing technical infrastructure and accelerating our mission to make innovation easy to specify for engineers,” he said.

Investible principle Ben Lindsay said early customer response to the product has been encouraging.

“We’ve been fortunate to watch Adam and Ringo over the past 12 months as they’ve first captured a clearly defined cross-laminated timber niche and are now thoughtfully expanding into the much larger manufactured products market,” he said.

Since the 2024 Seed round, SPEC Toolbox has expanded into Europe, the UK, and North America, with more than 6,000 user signups and 35 product suppliers.