Buildxact, Melbourne-based construction tech company, has raised $8.5 million led by Aconex co-founder Leigh Jasper who will also join the company board of directors as the director of innovation.

The goal of Buildxact is to focus on an under-served segment of the residential construction industry instead of focusing on the big end of the market. It provides easy-to-use estimating and time management software through a SaaS model for builders and renovators.

“Residential builders lack fit-for-purpose tools and are often using spreadsheets and even paper to manage their business. They are in desperate need of easy-to-use technology to increase their efficiency and visibility into the business,” Buildxact chief executive David Murray says.

“That is why we’ve focused on developing integrated, intuitive and feature-rich solutions that are simple and affordable for this market. By streamlining the building process from quote to cash, our users are saving up to 80% of time in admin while improving their financial control.”

With the funds raised, Buildxact aims to accelerate its growth and invest further into countries like Canada as well as launch into the United States and United Kingdom in 2020.

This investment follows a 100% year-on-year growth and now serves thousands of builders across Australia and New Zealand.

“The traction we’ve seen in recent years proves there is a need for our solution. Following the establishment of a fit for purpose product, the company has invested in sales and marketing and accelerated its revenue and subscriber growth,” David says.

“With this injection of funds, we can increase our investment in our product to serve more of the industry, not just here but in our chosen international markets as well.”

Buildxact chairman and co-founder John Allison spoke highly of the latest addition of Leigh: “We are very excited to have Leigh Jasper join the board and actively advise on innovation and our go-to-market strategy. With his expertise in SaaS and the construction sector, combined with his experience growing a global business, we gain a significant boost to the capability of the company.”