Endra secures $20M to automate mechanical, electrical and plumbing design for construction – News

Sweden-based Endra Systems AB, an artificial intelligence and generative design startup for engineers who make buildings habitable, announced Thursday it has raised $20 million in seed funding led by Notion Capital.

When it comes to construction, buildings are more than just structures: They require basic amenities for human life, such as ventilation, plumbing and electricity. During the initial process of putting together the bones of a livable structure, engineers must also think through the arteries and nervous system — where devices, conduits, vents and pipes must go.

Endra provides a purpose-built platform for engineers in the MEP industry, which stands for mechanical, electrical and plumbing. It uses advanced AI models to help automate the development of complex, code-compliant systems from the ground up.

Norrsken VC and angel investors joined Notion in the investment, which follows the company’s previous €3 million (around $3.4 million) pre-seed round in May.

“Nothing has really happened, from a technology standpoint, for the last 25 years,” co-founder and Chief Executive Niklas Lindgren told Fortune. “We’re building a purpose-built platform for the MEP design engineering industry, speeding up processes for human designers by hundreds of times.”

Lindgren said his inspiration came from his father, an architect, who described how manual and outdated the process remains for working up plans for HVAC and plumbing networks. Although designers and engineers use computer-aided 3D building information modeling software such as Autodesk Inc.’s tools, the industry lacks widely adopted intelligent automation.

Endra integrates with Autodesk’s Revit, a standard computer-aided design tool throughout the MEP industry. It uses 3D architectural models, building code requirements and system types to automate the process of wiring design, fitting pipes to structure, fire alarm placement and more.

Under the hood, the system uses a number of different AI and 3D tools, including large language models, machine learning, 3D simulation and process algorithms. The LLMs are used to interpret architectural intent and build context from regulatory documents, which can then be used to form the system scaffolding for 3D design software.

Founded in late 2024, Endra currently employs 10 people and plans to use the new funding to triple that number within a year. Based in Sweden, the company intends to expand into the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany as it follows customer demand.

Endra launched its product in August and already has a waiting list of more than 600 companies across more than 90 countries.

Robin Wänlund, an associate at Notion Capital, said modern AI-enabled platforms for MEP may have the largest impact on modern operations and expenditure.

“Not only because MEP design is everywhere and very labour-intensive, but also because a large part of it is regulated and rule-based,” Wänlund added. “Designers work in 3D, hence Endra is not your regular AI company building on top of foundational models. They are solving hard optimisation problems using deterministic ML models.”

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