This Austin-Area Company Raised $115M to Build Robot Construction Crews

TerraFirma raised approximately $115 million, including a $100 million Series A led by Kleiner Perkins, to expand its semi-autonomous construction platform.

The Austin-area company was founded by former SpaceX engineers Noah Schochet and Noah McGuinness and recently moved into a 40,000-square-foot headquarters, R&D, and testing facility in Buda.

At SpaceX, they helped build the rockets designed to reach Mars.

Now, they're focused on what comes next: the machinery and infrastructure needed to actually build there.

Before that technology reaches another planet, though, TerraFirma is putting it to work on construction sites here on Earth.

Its platform combines:

• AI-assisted bidding, planning, and simulation
• Remote operation of existing heavy equipment
• Semi-autonomous excavators, bulldozers, and loaders
• A central command system for coordinating machines and job sites

The long-term vision is to turn construction equipment into a coordinated fleet.

Instead of placing one worker inside every machine, TerraFirma believes a single operator could eventually supervise as many as five excavators, bulldozers, and loaders from a remote command center.

That could be especially valuable in Central Texas.

Austin is in the middle of several major infrastructure and construction projects, including extensive highway work. If TerraFirma can help crews complete those projects faster, more safely, and with fewer labor constraints, its impact could extend far beyond one company.

Austin may be one of the best testing grounds in the country for proving that TerraFirma's technology works.