- In 2025, the Contech sector continued its structural growth despite a more demanding macroeconomic environment. Investor appetite remained strong, though increasingly selective, with capital flowing toward solutions demonstrating clear industrial viability, particularly across digitalization, automation, and AI-enabled technologies.
- Cemex Ventures presents its Top 50 Contech Startups 2026 list and accompanying report, showcasing the most innovative startups shaping the future of construction, alongside an in-depth analysis of investment trends and a forward-looking outlook for 2026.
Madrid, Spain. February 4, 2026 – Cemex Ventures, the corporate venture capital and open innovation unit of Cemex, today released its list of the 50 most promising construction technology (Contech) startups for 2026. The selection is structured around the CVC’s four strategic focus areas: Green Construction (sustainability), Enhanced Productivity (efficiency), Construction Supply Chain (agility), and Future of Construction (disruption).
Following the investment peak reached in 2021, the Contech ecosystem has entered a more mature phase characterized by disciplined capital allocation and a stronger emphasis on solutions addressing the industry’s most critical operational, environmental, and productivity challenges. The 7th edition of Cemex Ventures’ Top 50 includes a comprehensive report analyzing key industry dynamics in 2025 and outlining expected innovation and investment trends for 2026.
In 2025, global Contech investment reached approximately USD 6.57 billion across nearly 337 deals, supported primarily by sustained activity in early-stage funding rounds (Seed and Series A). This trend reflects continued investor confidence in the sector’s long-term fundamentals, while underscoring a shift toward technologies with clearer execution pathways and scalability potential.
The Enhanced Productivity category continued to capture the largest share of investment activity, accounting for 64% of total deals, driven by the accelerated adoption of digital platforms, automation, and AI-enabled solutions designed to improve efficiency, predictability, and execution across construction operations.
The Construction’s Future category followed with 18% of total deals, reflecting sustained, but increasingly selective, interest in decarbonization, circularity, and resource efficiency. Investment in this segment is increasingly focused on solutions that go beyond pilot phases, demonstrating clear pathways toward industrial scalability, sound economics, and tangible impact across key levers such as embodied carbon reduction, alternative materials, water efficiency, and process optimization.
“In 2025, the Contech market clearly moved into a more disciplined and execution-driven phase. Capital did not retreat, but it became more selective, favoring solutions that can be industrialized, integrated into real operations, and scaled with predictable economics,” said Jesús Ortiz, Head of Cemex Ventures.
“Our focus has been on identifying technologies that address the sector’s structural challenges, productivity, supply chain resilience, and decarbonization, through solutions that move from validation into real operations, delivering measurable impact at scale.”
“The Top 50 Contech Startups 2026 report reflects a market where innovation is no longer judged by novelty, but by its ability to translate into execution,” Ortiz added. “Digitalization, automation, and AI are becoming core components of new operating models in construction, and in 2026, we expect accelerated adoption of technologies that enhance predictability, efficiency, and sustainability while strengthening overall competitiveness.”
The startups featured in this year’s Top 50 Contech Startups 2026 represent a diverse global ecosystem, united by a shared ambition to address construction’s most pressing challenges and reshape the industry’s future.
For the full list of the Top 50 Contech Startups 2026 and to download the complete report, please visit:
https://www.cemexventures.com/top-50/
About Cemex Ventures
Launched in 2017, Cemex Ventures focuses on helping overcome the main challenges and capitalizing on the opportunity areas in the construction ecosystem through solutions that consider sustainability. Cemex Ventures has developed an open collaborative platform to lead the revolution of the construction industry, engaging startups, entrepreneurs, universities, and other stakeholders to tackle the challenges in the construction environment and shape the industry’s future. For more information on Cemex Ventures, please visit: www.cemexventures.com
About Cemex
Cemex is a global construction materials company that is building a better future through sustainable products and solutions. Cemex is committed to achieving carbon neutrality through relentless innovation and industry-leading research and development. Cemex is at the forefront of the circular economy in the construction value chain and is pioneering ways to increase the use of waste and residues as alternative raw materials and fuels in its operations with the help of new technologies. Cemex offers cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, and urbanization solutions in growing markets around the world, powered by a multinational workforce focused on providing a superior customer experience enabled by digital technologies. For more information, please visit: www.cemex.com
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Cemex Ventures BV is an indirect subsidiary of Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V. Except as the context otherwise may require, references in this press release to “Cemex,” ”we,” ”us,” ”our,” refer to Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: CX) and its consolidated subsidiaries. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws. Cemex intends these forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements in the U.S. federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect Cemex’s current expectations and projections about future events based on Cemex’s knowledge of present facts and circumstances and assumptions about future events, as well as Cemex’s current plans based on such facts and circumstances, unless otherwise indicated. These statements necessarily involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from Cemex’s expectations, including, among others, risks, uncertainties, and assumptions discussed in Cemex’s most recent annual report and detailed from time to time in Cemex’s other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Mexican Stock Exchange (Bolsa Mexicana de Valores), which factors are incorporated herein by reference, which if materialized could ultimately lead to Cemex’s expectations, expected results, and/or the investment and projects referred herein not producing the expected benefits and/or results. Cemex assumes that the startups referenced in the list referred to in this press release have the rights to their corresponding projects. Cemex is not responsible for any ownership or rights issues that any startup may have with respect to their corresponding project. Forward-looking statements should not be considered guarantees of future performance, nor the results or developments are indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods. These factors may be revised or supplemented, and the information contained in this press release is subject to change without notice, but Cemex is not under, and expressly disclaims, any obligation to update or correct this press release or revise any forward-looking statement contained herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances. Any or all of Cemex’s forward-looking statements may turn out to be inaccurate. Accordingly, undue reliance on forward-looking statements should not be placed, as such forward-looking statements speak only as of the dates on which they are made. The content of this press release is for informational purposes only, and you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Cemex is not responsible for any third-party information referenced in this press release.
There is currently no single globally recognized or accepted, consistent, and comparable set of definitions or standards (legal, regulatory, or otherwise) of, nor widespread cross-market consensus i) as to what constitutes, a ‘green’, ‘social,’ or ‘sustainable’ or having equivalent-labeled activity, product, or asset; or ii) as to what precise attributes are required for a particular activity, product, or asset to be defined as ‘green’, ‘social,’ or ‘sustainable’ or such other equivalent label; or iii) as to climate and sustainable funding and financing activities and their classification and reporting. Therefore, there is little certainty, and no assurance or representation is given that such activities and/or reporting of those activities will meet any present or future expectations or requirements for describing or classifying funding and financing activities as ‘green’, ‘social’, or ‘sustainable’ or attributing similar labels. We expect policies, regulatory requirements, standards, and definitions to be developed and continuously evolve over time.
