Francesco Putignano (co-founder): "Next objectives: continue to innovate by further developing our 'AI for construction sites', and replicate what we have achieved in Italy in the Spanish market”.
Milan, 24 September 2024 - Mela Works, the start-up that developed a solution to improve the management of construction site operations, announced the closing of a 2.4 million euro round that saw the participation of CDP Venture Capital as lead investor through its Corporate Partners I Fund - InfraTech sub-fund, and Terna Forward, the Terna Group's corporate venture capital vehicle. Other participants in the round included the Italian-French fund 360 Capital Partners and the American accelerator Techstars, which had already invested in the start-up.
The company also announced its entry into the Spanish market with a dedicated team, already planning significant marketing investments in the coming weeks.
Mela Works was founded by Riccardo Chiarelli, Francesco Putignano and Emanuele Zamponi, who developed the Mela platform to manage construction site works and monitor costs through a simple, intuitive interface. The Mela platform can support both the needs of small and medium-sized companies in the construction and plant engineering sector, and the processes of large industrial companies in sectors such as utilities, infrastructure and manufacturing.
Mela Works’s customers include major companies in Italian industry (such as A2A) and more than 1,000 small and medium-sized companies, which open more than 10,000 new construction sites each month using the Mela platform. The benefits identified by its customers include increased real-time visibility of site costs, significant time savings in document preparation, and a reduction in disputes and payment delays.
"Thanks to the investment received in this round, we will continue on the one hand to innovate our product, investing in Artificial Intelligence applied to construction sites, and on the other to replicate the Italian model in other markets, starting with Spain", explained Francesco Putignano, co-founder and CEO of Mela Works. "We designed Mela to simplify the tracking of information in the field, and our solution fits the needs of all those companies engaged in complex works and projects. We believe that the trust shown to us by the new investors CDP Venture Capital and Terna Forward and confirmed by 360 Capital Partners and Techstars will give us a major boost in the years to come”.
"Mela Works's solution for digitising and monitoring construction sites in real time has great potential for the construction industry, which is benefiting enormously from digital transformation", observed Agostino Scornajenchi, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of CDP Venture Capital, "We are very pleased with this investment underwritten by the InfraTech sub-fund of our Corporate Partners I corporate venture capital fund, which has the objective of identifying the best start-ups developing cutting-edge technologies for infrastructure and construction sites. This operation is not only a financial investment, but also an opportunity to help bring positive change to the construction industry".
Mela Works was assisted in the transaction by the Chiomenti law firm (Edoardo Canetta Rossi Palermo, Benedetta Gizzi, Vittorio Rampinelli), CDP Venture Capital by Hogan Lovells and Terna Forward by LCA.