Norwegian startup raises $6.3 million pre-seed round to build AI-native engineering firm
Oslo-based Solvera has raised a $6.3 million pre-seed round to build what it calls an AI-native engineering firm for the construction industry. Seedcamp led the round, with participation from Inception Fund, Momentum, PSV, Sondo, OBOS Ventures, Construct Venture and The Nordic Web Ventures. Angels include Spacemaker founders Anders Kvale and Håvard Haukeland and former OBOS CEO Daniel Kjørberg Siraj.
Solvera is an engineering services provider, not a software vendor. It pairs proprietary AI agents with experienced building engineers to take projects from requirements and constraints to coordinated, construction-ready designs. Clients pay for the engineering work delivered, not for software licences or consulting hours. It starts with mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) engineering, aiming to automate more of tasks such as testing design alternatives, routing systems and coordinating technical information, while engineers make the decisions that need professional judgement. Its operating system is designed to reuse knowledge from completed projects.
The company launched in July 2026 and says it now has nine people and more than $1 million in contracted revenue after its first three months. It is working on several building projects in Norway, including commercial projects with contractor Betonmast, which chose Solvera to tackle fragmented engineering workflows that cause delays, unnecessary costs and problems found late in construction.
The founders are CEO Arif Mirza and CTO Pål Eskild Rasmussen, who spent much of the past decade in leadership roles at Spacemaker and Autodesk, and CCO Thorvald Thorsnes, who co-founded Y Combinator-backed Enode. The money will fund team growth in Oslo, a London office and further development of the operating system, with more markets planned later.
Mirza argues that two decades of better engineering software, and now AI, have barely changed how engineering is delivered, so the firm's operating model and pricing must change too. Seedcamp's Tom Wilson said the investment is a bet on rebuilding the firm itself rather than on another tool for existing firms.