Pillar, an Italian fintech startup dedicated to digitizing the financial management of construction companies, announces the closing of a €3.2 million Pre-Seed round, the largest ever recorded in Italy in the construction tech sector. The round was led by Emblem, a French fund specializing in Pre-Seed investments that has backed global scaleups such as Lovable. International VCs also participated, including Pareto (USA), Plug and Play, and Kima Ventures (France), as well as Italian VCs such as B Heroes, Vento, Eden Ventures, and IAG, alongside a group of prominent entrepreneurs from the national and international tech ecosystem, including the founders of Aria, Convelio, Mobile First Company, 1000farmacie, Sibill, Futura, and Lexroom, as well as business angels such as Paola Bonomo, Ignazio Rocco Da Torrepadula, Enrico Pandian, and many others.
Pillar is the only software that enables construction companies to know exactly where their money goes and to monitor revenues, expenses, and margins in real time both at the company level and per individual site. The platform, simple and intuitive, leverages artificial intelligence to automate checks, reconcile bank transactions, and detect anomalies before they become real problems.
Pillar was founded by three entrepreneurs with a strong background in tech and startups in both Italy and abroad. Their mission is to innovate a key sector for the Italian and European economy construction which is still characterized by traditional processes and operational inefficiencies. Construction is one of the pillars of the Italian economy: in 2023, the sector accounted for 11.4% of national GDP and contributed to about one-third of GDP growth over the past two years (Bank of Italy, Annual Report 2024). However, the adoption of advanced technologies remains limited: according to Censis, only 20% of construction companies use software to manage sites, while about 60% have not yet adopted digital solutions. Pillar’s founders Gabriel Guinea Montalvo, Paolo Tarsia Incuria, and Lorenzo Demaio directly experienced the gap between the complexity of financial management in construction and the potential of fintech technologies, leading them to develop tailor-made software for construction firms.
The Pillar platform enables construction companies to keep company and site costs under control without manual intervention, providing an always up-to-date view of margins. Its key differentiator lies in the ability to integrate data from multiple sources from tax records to bank accounts while also automatically collecting site-generated information such as delivery notes, hours worked, completed activities, and progress reports, thanks to the development of AI assistants on WhatsApp.
Since its public launch, Pillar has already gained strong market traction, with over 100 client companies, more than 350 sites managed, over 500 workers monitored, and more than 40,000 invoices processed. The team currently has over 15 members. With the new capital raised, the startup will accelerate product development and go-to-market strategy, expanding the team with new hires to scale successfully.
“This investment, at one of the highest valuations ever recorded for a Pre-Seed round in Italy, is an important signal of trust that confirms the attractiveness and potential of our solution in a traditional and still largely non-digitalized market such as Italian construction,” commented Gabriel Guinea Montalvo, CEO & Co-Founder of Pillar. “The participation of international investors such as Emblem, which has already shown its ability to back successful startups like Lovable, underscores the strength of our vision.”
“The construction industry is massive and is undergoing a strong push toward digitalization, driven by generational change, the search for greater efficiency, and the need to navigate an increasingly complex regulatory environment. It is a fertile ground for mobile applications and AI solutions, but at the same time a challenging sector for software providers, as it is fragmented and requires a deep understanding of end users to build an effective go-to-market strategy. To meet the challenge of innovating this sector, we chose to back the Pillar team for their skills and characteristics, which we have seen in many successful teams,” said Guillaume Durao, General Partner at Emblem.
Pillar aims to establish itself as the first true European fintech player for the construction industry, building an ecosystem for the financial and administrative management of construction firms. The company targets 2,500 client companies and a 30-member team by 2027.