Cascade, a startup focused on simplifying how construction-related firms find and secure projects, has successfully raised $3.5 million in a seed funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz Speedrun, along with investments from Ada Ventures and Snowball VC. Founded by Hannia Zia and Joana Ferreira in 2025, the company emerged from the founders’ personal understanding of the challenges construction businesses face in consistently winning bids. Both founders have backgrounds tied to construction, with family members who encountered difficulties in accessing project opportunities.

The platform addresses the fragmented and time-consuming process construction, architecture, and engineering firms face when searching for projects. Currently, firms must monitor numerous portals at city, state, federal, and private levels, creating a complex landscape that’s hard to navigate. Cascade uses artificial intelligence to aggregate project data, track active and upcoming bids, and leverage historical tender information to forecast which developers are likely to secure new contracts, enabling clients to target their business development efforts more strategically.

After joining a16z’s Speedrun program in September, Cascade gained exposure and credibility, helping them close contracts with prestigious clients involved in major projects such as the JFK and La Guardia airports, Four Seasons hotels, and data centers. The founders credit the accelerator experience with enhancing their market presence and opening doors to bigger deals. With the fresh capital, Cascade plans to expand its market reach, organize industry events, and grow its engineering team to refine its platform further.

Unlike some competitors like GovWin IQ and ConstructConnect, Cascade positions itself as more AI-focused, continuously improving its predictive models through client feedback on won bids. This learning cycle aims to build a comprehensive industry map that the AI can analyze to identify the best projects and leads for each customer over time. Cascade’s innovative approach could enable construction firms to more easily navigate a traditionally opaque market and increase their chances of securing valuable contracts.