OnSite, a Singapore-based startup building an AI-powered communication platform for the construction and facilities management industry, has raised S$1.7 million (US$1.3 million) in a seed funding round co-led by Tin Men Capital and Alter Global, with Hustle Fund and Gondor Capital also participating.

The startup addresses a fundamental information and communication management problem in Singapore’s S$53B construction industry with an AI-powered messaging platform that allows construction teams to easily communicate, structure, and organise information, creating a legal-grade audit trail in the process. 

Despite being one of the largest contributors to the national economy with demand projected at S$47 billion to S$53 billion in 2026, Singapore's construction industry is still one of its least digitised sectors, relying overwhelmingly on WhatsApp groups, phone calls, and paper-based documentation for on-site communication. 

This fragmentation leads to information loss, project delays, and costly payment disputes—problems that disproportionately affect the small and medium-sized contractors who make up the bulk of the industry.

A multi-trillion dollar problem globally

Digital inefficiencies cost Singapore's construction sector over S$1.1 billion (US$ 860 million) annually, while across Southeast Asia, more than 65% of construction projects suffer delays due to coordination breakdowns driven by scattered, unstructured communications. Globally, bad data—largely the result of these same fragmented workflows—cost the construction industry an estimated S$2.47 trillion (US$1.84 trillion) in 2020 alone.

OnSite replaces these disconnected channels entirely with a purpose-built messaging platform that enables construction teams to communicate as they normally would via voice notes, photos, and text, and the platform's AI engine automatically structures, tags, and organises everything by project, location, and timeline. The result is a single, searchable source of truth that doubles as a legal-grade audit trail.

Poh Yong Han, OnSite’s CEO & Co-Founder

"The core problem in construction is that documentation and communication are chaotic, unsearchable, and disconnected from the physical worksite, often resulting in costly disputes, delays, and lawsuits," said Poh Yong Han, CEO and Co-Founder of OnSite. "We are building a data management layer that will anchor every message, every photo, every voice note automatically to exactly where and when it happened, without training to use."

The funding will be used to expand the engineering team and accelerate product development, including AI-powered features like a pocket assistant trained on construction teams’ chats, holistic project analysis, predictive risk assessments, and smart integrations with 3rd-party tools. The company is currently in beta with design partners in Singapore and Hong Kong, with an active waitlist and plans to move out of beta later in 2026.

Built for the complexity of Southeast Asian blue-collar work 

OnSite supports over eight languages commonly used on Southeast Asian worksites, including English, Mandarin, Tamil, Bengali, Cantonese, and Malay. The platform handles code-switching—a common reality on multilingual construction sites—and translates communication in real time.

Unlike competitors that layer AI on top of existing messaging apps like WhatsApp or Telegram, OnSite replaces the communication channel itself. This architectural decision means data is structured from the point of origin, rather than retroactively extracted, resulting in a more complete and reliable dataset.

Liam Appelson, OnSite’s CPO & Co-Founder

"We're bringing consumer-grade UX to B2B software. The interface has to be as intuitive as the apps our users already know, but the backend has to do serious, enterprise-grade work," said Liam Appelson, CPO and Co-Founder of OnSite. "If it takes training, we've failed."

Mr Appelson, who studied physics at Yale and previously worked in carpentry and industrial design (for brands including Herman Miller and B&B Italia), shapes the product by designing for the everyday user. Ms Poh, Singapore's 2021 Rhodes Scholar, holds a PhD in anthropology from Oxford and like Mr Appelson, grew up in her family's renovation business, giving the founding team an unusual combination of academic rigour, design thinking, and deep domain familiarity.

Backed by investors with deep sector expertise

The round was co-led by Tin Men Capital, a Singapore-based VC focused exclusively on enterprise and frontier technology in Southeast Asia. The firm has a proven track record in construction tech, with prior investments in Hubble (construction project management) and Ailytics (AI-powered construction safety).

"While we have seen the construction industry accelerate digital adoption, it needs tools built for its specific and complex workflows, within the cultural context of Southeast Asia,” said Jeremy Tan, Co-founder of Tin Men Capital. "OnSite's product-led approach, combined with the founders' unique domain expertise, presents a massive opportunity to transform the operating system for construction and facilities management across the region, shaping how AI creates value for a trillion-dollar global industry."

Alter Global, which invests in high-growth ventures across emerging markets from its base in Silicon Valley, co-led the round. Hustle Fund and Gondor Capital participated.

Market opportunity beyond Singapore

The broader market opportunity extends well beyond Singapore. Globally, bad data—largely the result of these same fragmented workflows—cost the construction industry an estimated S$2.47 trillion (US$1.84 trillion) in 2020 alone. OnSite's multilingual capabilities position it for expansion across Southeast Asia, where the construction sector is experiencing sustained growth driven by urbanisation and infrastructure investment.

Construction tech remains an underserved category in the region despite its outsized role in economic output. According to Tracxn, construction tech companies in Singapore raised just S$3.2 million (US$2.5 million) across two rounds in 2025 and a total of just S$140.7 million (US$110 million) over the last decade, suggesting significant white space.

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