From BIM to risk intelligence: ENLAYE raises €4.25 million

Artificial intelligence has already begun transforming building design, plan analysis, construction-site monitoring and resource planning. Another category of software is now starting to emerge: risk intelligence.

Enlaye, founded by Philippe Rival and Stamatios Liapis, has announced a €4.25 million seed round led by Glasswing Ventures and co-led by Link Ventures. The funding will enable the company to accelerate development of its risk-lifecycle management platform for the construction, real-estate and infrastructure sectors. Already deployed across more than $17 billion worth of projects in the United States, Canada and Europe, the startup works with several VINCI entities. Its ambition is to transform the knowledge dispersed throughout construction projects into operational intelligence that can be used at scale.

The funding comes as the global construction industry enters a period of profound transformation. Long focused on improving productivity at building sites, the sector’s digitalisation is now turning towards a more strategic challenge: identifying, anticipating and reducing the risks that can affect project profitability.

The United States turns AI into an investment-protection tool

The US market is currently the principal driver of innovation in AI-assisted construction.

The proliferation of industrial projects, energy infrastructure and data centres built for artificial intelligence is creating new requirements. Investment can now reach several billion dollars per site, while cost overruns or delivery delays can have considerable financial consequences for operators.

In this environment, major industry groups are less interested in tools capable of saving a few hours of work than in solutions that reduce their exposure to operational, contractual and financial risks.

A new generation of specialised companies is therefore emerging around predictive analysis, document automation, supply-chain management and risk management. Artificial intelligence is gradually becoming a decision-making layer designed to secure projects that may be worth several billion dollars.

This development marks a change of paradigm. Having initially been presented as a productivity tool, AI is becoming an instrument for protecting invested capital.

Europe is moving more slowly but faces the same constraints

The shift is less spectacular in Europe, but the underlying dynamics are similar.

Major infrastructure programmes linked to the energy transition, transportation, building renovation and digital infrastructure are confronting European companies with challenges comparable to those observed in the United States.

Rising construction costs, shortages of certain skills, growing regulatory requirements and increasingly complex projects are driving major companies to seek new sources of efficiency.

Unlike the United States, where the ConTech startup ecosystem is particularly developed, Europe relies more heavily on its major construction groups to experiment with these technologies. VINCI, Bouygues, Eiffage and STRABAG are increasing their initiatives in artificial intelligence, document analysis and process automation.

This momentum could accelerate over the coming years as industrial sovereignty and critical infrastructure return to the top of economic and political agendas.

An industry accumulating data without being able to use it

Construction generates considerable volumes of information: contracts, tenders, plans, technical specifications, site reports, correspondence, procedures, claims histories and maintenance data. Yet most of this information remains locked inside organisational or technological silos.

According to figures cited by Enlaye, almost 96% of the data produced by the industry is never used. Autodesk estimates that poor data cost the global construction industry $1.85 trillion in 2020. This is compounded by information lost between the design, construction and operational phases, as well as the difficulty of transferring lessons from one project to another.

The result is delays, rework, contractual disputes, budget overruns and declining margins.

In an industry where some projects are worth hundreds of millions or even billions of euros, a few errors in contractual interpretation or several poorly anticipated risks can be enough to undermine the economic viability of an entire operation.

Enlaye wants to build the construction industry’s risk memory

This is precisely the problem Enlaye is seeking to address. Unlike many construction startups attempting to automate administrative tasks or improve workforce productivity, the company focuses on how organisations learn from their past experience.

Its platform aggregates data from multiple sources, including technical documents, contracts, schedules, field reports and project histories, to identify correlations, detect weak signals and produce contextualised risk analyses.

The company uses multimodal AI models and graph neural networks to connect dispersed information and extract intelligence that operational teams can put to use.

The objective is not to replace experts, but to give them immediate access to knowledge that would otherwise remain buried across thousands of documents.

VINCI’s validation sends a strong signal

In construction, a technology’s value is measured less by a demonstration than by its adoption in the field. Since 2025, Enlaye has received support from Leonard, the VINCI group’s innovation platform. Several group entities already use the solution, particularly for tender analysis and contractual-risk assessment.

Major construction groups rank among the most demanding organisations in terms of reliability, compliance and document management. Their operating environments combine high capital intensity, complex regulatory obligations and project cycles that can extend over several years.

Risk management could become ConTech’s next major category

For more than a decade, the construction industry’s digital transformation focused primarily on digitising processes. Construction-management software, collaborative platforms, BIM and digital twins have helped structure and streamline operations.

The next stage could consist of using all the knowledge generated by these systems to anticipate future risks more effectively.

This development extends far beyond construction. The same issues arise in energy, transport infrastructure, heavy industry and defence, where the growing complexity of projects is making risk management increasingly strategic.

Enlaye’s funding round therefore illustrates a broader trend: the emergence of platforms capable of transforming an organisation’s operational memory into a competitive advantage.

Having digitised projects, the industry is now seeking to digitise accumulated experience. In a sector where every decision can represent several million euros, this capability could become one of the most valuable assets of the next decade.