{"id":3475,"date":"2026-07-15T12:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T12:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475"},"modified":"2026-07-15T12:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T12:09:09","slug":"he-sold-his-last-company-to-palantir-now-hes-betting-32-million-that-robots-can-fix-constructions-labor-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475","title":{"rendered":"He sold his last company to Palantir. Now he\u2019s betting $32 million that robots can fix construction\u2019s labor crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

His Amsterdam-based construction robotics company, Monumental raised a $32 million Series B led by Khosla Ventures, Fortune<\/em> learned exclusively. The round follows a $25 million round in February 2024 co-led by Plural and Hummingbird. The new capital will fund a U.S. launch this year, scale its European robot fleet, and expand the range of tasks its machines can handle.<\/p>\n

Read more An SEC email address mix-up is causing confusion and threatening to disrupt its proposal to scrap quarterly reporting requirements<\/a><\/p>\n

Al Khafaji\u2019s nay-sayers weren\u2019t wrong to be skeptical about the construction space. Construction technology has burned through substantial venture capital in the past seven years and investment activity in the space has ultimately declined 33% year-on-year. Katerra\u2014a SoftBank-backed startup that tried to overhaul the entire construction supply chain under one roof\u2014raised over $1 billion and went bankrupt in 2021. Australia\u2019s FBR built a truck-mounted bricklaying robot arm that can lay up to 360 blocks per hour, but at nearly $6 million per machine it requires contractors to make a massive upfront bet on unproven technology. The pattern repeats: bold technology, wrong business model, contractor walks away.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Monumental builds fleets of compact, electric, self-driving bricklaying robots that show up on construction sites and lay walls. The company works like a specialist subcontractor\u2014the kind a general contractor hires to handle one specific job, like plumbing or electrical\u2014except the crew is robots. Contractors get a quote in familiar terms (per brick, per square meter), and Monumental handles everything else. \u201cWe\u2019re selling them a wall,\u201d al Khafaji explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company uses whatever bricks and mortar a contractor already specifies, meaning regulators see nothing new to approve. Al Khafaji explained this as a deliberate workaround to the building-code fragmentation that killed many of its predecessors. The company currently has more than 150 robots on live European job sites.<\/p>\n

Monumental\u2019s latest round coincides with a greater shortage of construction labor. Global construction accounts for 13% of world GDP but has seen virtually no productivity gains in 50 years. In the U.S., the industry needs 349,000 net new workers in 2026 alone, and the housing shortfall sits at 3 to 4 million units. Al Khafaji is blunt about the scale: \u201cYou could have 10,000 robots a day and we would literally have just touched a few percentage points of the shortage.\u201d That framing\u2014filling a hole, not displacing workers\u2014is also Monumental\u2019s political cover entering a union-heavy market where tightening immigration enforcement is already shrinking the informal labor pool that much of American construction quietly depends on.<\/p>\n

Read more Kevin Ryan\u2019s AlleyCorp raises new $335 million fund, all in on early-stage bets<\/a><\/p>\n

The company isn\u2019t the only bet on the sector. Last November, Zurich-based Gravis Robotics raised $23 million to outfit existing heavy machinery\u2014excavators, loaders\u2014with cameras and AI so they can operate autonomously or be guided remotely via tablet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

And equipment giants like Caterpillar, Komatsu, and Volvo are all circling the autonomous construction equipment market, valued at $10 billion in 2025 and growing at 7.9% annually. Where Gravis retrofits machines already on site, Monumental deploys its own fleet from scratch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Monumental\u2019s entry is targeted at Texas, Florida, Virginia, and Arizona, where building activity and labor shortages are most acute. Al Khafaji\u2019s 18-month benchmark is a permanently deployed fleet in the high double to low triple digits across at least two states. The longer roadmap stretches from bricklaying to full facades. Someday, he mused \u201cyou\u2019ll drive around and find them on an average construction site.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Close to as good as it gets\u2019: Jamie Dimon just offered another warning on bubbly markets as Wall Street had a monster quarter<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monumental founder Salar al Khafaji is bringing his fleet of bricklaying robots to the U.S. this year, backed by a new Khosla Ventures-led round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[438],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-robotics"],"yoast_head":"\nHe sold his last company to Palantir. Now he\u2019s betting $32 million that robots can fix construction\u2019s labor crisis - Cross Country Moving Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"He sold his last company to Palantir. Now he\u2019s betting $32 million that robots can fix construction\u2019s labor crisis - Cross Country Moving Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Monumental founder Salar al Khafaji is bringing his fleet of bricklaying robots to the U.S. this year, backed by a new Khosla Ventures-led round.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cross Country Moving Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T12:09:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=3475#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=3475\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa\"},\"headline\":\"He sold his last company to Palantir. Now he\u2019s betting $32 million that robots can fix construction\u2019s labor crisis\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T12:09:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=3475\"},\"wordCount\":620,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=3475#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/adb2d2d6bc9d80e8256b07f9b25360f9.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Robotics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=3475#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=3475\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=3475\",\"name\":\"He sold his last company to Palantir. Now he\u2019s betting $32 million that robots can fix construction\u2019s labor crisis - Cross Country Moving Team\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=3475#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=3475#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/adb2d2d6bc9d80e8256b07f9b25360f9.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T12:09:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=3475#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=3475\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=3475#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/adb2d2d6bc9d80e8256b07f9b25360f9.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/adb2d2d6bc9d80e8256b07f9b25360f9.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?p=3475#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"He sold his last company to Palantir. Now he\u2019s betting $32 million that robots can fix construction\u2019s labor crisis\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cross Country Moving Team\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"He sold his last company to Palantir. Now he\u2019s betting $32 million that robots can fix construction\u2019s labor crisis - Cross Country Moving Team","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"He sold his last company to Palantir. Now he\u2019s betting $32 million that robots can fix construction\u2019s labor crisis - Cross Country Moving Team","og_description":"Monumental founder Salar al Khafaji is bringing his fleet of bricklaying robots to the U.S. this year, backed by a new Khosla Ventures-led round.","og_url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475","og_site_name":"Cross Country Moving Team","article_published_time":"2026-07-15T12:09:09+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa"},"headline":"He sold his last company to Palantir. Now he\u2019s betting $32 million that robots can fix construction\u2019s labor crisis","datePublished":"2026-07-15T12:09:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475"},"wordCount":620,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/adb2d2d6bc9d80e8256b07f9b25360f9.webp","articleSection":["Robotics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475","url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475","name":"He sold his last company to Palantir. Now he\u2019s betting $32 million that robots can fix construction\u2019s labor crisis - Cross Country Moving Team","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/adb2d2d6bc9d80e8256b07f9b25360f9.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-15T12:09:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/adb2d2d6bc9d80e8256b07f9b25360f9.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/adb2d2d6bc9d80e8256b07f9b25360f9.webp","width":1200,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=3475#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"He sold his last company to Palantir. Now he\u2019s betting $32 million that robots can fix construction\u2019s labor crisis"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/","name":"Cross Country Moving Team","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1b8121bfb9a1c55d1fff3fca675fceaa","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}