Milan, Italy May 12, 2026 (Issuewire.com) - Pillar, the Italian startup building the operating system of the construction industry, today announces the closing of a €12 million Seed round led by Earlybird Venture Capital and Base10 Partners, with participation from Italian Founders Fund (IFF). This joint participation from leading international investors underscores a growing international confidence in the Italian startup ecosystem and highlights the company’s potential to scale globally.
Construction is the world's largest industry and one of the least digitized. Across every project, every subcontract, and every site, the same fundamental questions remain unanswered: where is the money, who owes what, and when will it move. Pillar addresses this gap directly, providing contractors with a real-time control room powered by AI, automating the entire back office, from quote generation and margin tracking to workforce management and reporting, while the job is running. Data flows seamlessly from accounting systems, bank feeds, and directly from sites via WhatsApp in natural language, requiring no change to existing workflows. The result is a simple, powerful interface that gives construction operators full visibility over their construction site management and the foundation from which Pillar is building a comprehensive ecosystem for the entire industry.
Founded in 2025, Pillar is one of the fastest-growing startups in Italy. In less than a year since launch, the company has crossed 400 active clients, managed over 460,000 invoices and 5,700 job sites on the platform. They’ve added €1M in annual recurring revenue in the first four months of 2026 alone, with double-digit month-over-month growth. The team has now grown to over 40 people across product, engineering, and operations.
“Construction is the last major industry that hasn't been rewired from the ground up," said Gabriel Guinea Montalvo, CEO & Co-Founder of Pillar. "Every project runs on fragmented data, manual processes, and zero visibility — from the contractor's back office to the workers on site. We are building the default operating system this industry depends on, in Italy, in Europe, and everywhere construction still operates in chaos”.
The new capital will be deployed across three strategic priorities:
- Consolidating Italian leadership: doubling down on Italy by sharpening the product and unlocking new go-to-market channels to accelerate growth, while expanding the platform with new modules across procurement, tender management, subcontractors and artisans, banking, and adjacent construction services;
- International expansion: with early traction from tests across eight markets, Pillar is ready to accelerate rollout in select European and LATAM markets, replicating its localized approach and building go-to-market capacity;
- Product development & new segments: launching new products and verticals to evolve into a fully integrated, end-to-end ecosystem, including B2C offerings for homeowners and private clients alongside new B2B modules, creating a unified platform that connects every stakeholder in the construction and renovation value chain.
“We’ve backed category-defining platforms across Europe for three decades. Pillar has done in months what most companies take years to prove; they cracked a massive, complex industry and built something essential. This is key infrastructure and not a fintech play. We are excited to back team Pillar out of Italy,” shared Paul Klemm, General Partner at Earlybird Venture Capital.
“We partner with founders and companies rewiring the real economy. Construction is one of the largest industries but remains one of the least automated. Pillar has already built the operating layer construction businesses in Italy rely on, and we’re backing Gabriel and the team to expand that success they have had in Italy internationally,” added Caroline Broder, Partner at Base10 Partners.
Pillar's goal is to become the default operating system for construction, the layer every company relies on to manage money, people, and projects. The company is targeting 5,000 active clients by 2027 and a team of 120.
In less than 8 months since public launch, Pillar has raised €15.2M from international investors, including Earlybird, Base10 Partners, and Emblem.
Media Contact
Pillar hello@projecteleventh.com https://www.pillar.it/
