Mott MacDonald invests in geotechnical startup SAALG

Barcelona-based software and engineering startup specialises in real-time monitoring data analysis delivered through SAALG Daarwin software

Mott MacDonald Ventures, the strategic corporate venture arm of the global engineering, consultancy, has made an equity investment in Spanish software and engineering start-up SAALG Geomechanics.

SAALG’s Daarwin software provides an analytical capability for assessing ground behaviour during the construction stage of civil engineering and building projects. In the future the aim is to cover the entire lifecycle of civil projects, from planning and design to construction and maintenance.

Daarwin is designed to overcome the limitations of laboratory and in-situ testing by using ‘real time backanalysis’, a methodology that compares monitoring data (such as topography, inclinometers, sliding micrometers, piezometers etc.) to a digital twin (numerical models) to provide a more accurate representation of the real soil behaviour

According to Mott MacDonald, it supports the ‘Observational Method through Progressive Modification’ which its geotechnics practice has pioneered. The ambition is for SAALG’s platform to enable a shift in the industry towards performance-based design, using the observational method.

SAALG Geomechanics plans to offer its technology as Software as a Service (SaaS) integrated with Mott MacDonald’s Moata digital platform, providing Daarwin through a subscription-based model that includes a training plan to enable qualified teams to use the tool.

“This operation is a strategic move in the SAALG Geomechanics business model,” said Cristian de Santos and Ignasi Aliguer, SAALG Geomechanics founders. “We envision Daarwin to be a standard in construction, used by engineers all around the world. The aim is to become a global platform, for large volumes of geotechnical data at the service of the construction sector.”

The investment forms part of a Euro 0.5M funding round led by Mott MacDonald Ventures.

Others participating in the latest round are Scale Lab Andorra, the hyper-acceleration business program of Crèdit Andorrà and CEMEX Ventures.

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