CivilGrid, a startup building collaborative maps of underground utilities, has raised $26 million in a Series A round led by Spark Capital. The company said Wednesday that PG&E has eliminated more than $60 million in paving conflicts since deploying its software, a claim that underscores the costly friction buried beneath every construction project in America.
Founded in 2020 by Josh Mackanic and Brandon Cohen—both Wharton MBAs who spent years navigating the data chaos of utility infrastructure—CivilGrid is betting that fragmented subsurface records represent one of the last analog bottlenecks in an increasingly digital economy. Mackanic logged roughly a decade leading engineering and mapping work at PG&E; Cohen brought 13-plus years as a utilities data specialist. They've now pulled in backing from Energy Impact Partners, Afore Capital, A* Capital, Ford Street Ventures and SNR Ventures.
The premise is straightforward, if unsexy: Infrastructure teams planning construction projects typically cobble together underground utility information from dozens of disconnected sources. City records, private owners, environmental filings, land-rights databases. CivilGrid aggregates those datasets into what it calls an on-demand collaborative map, letting engineers spot conflicts before breaking ground. The platform also includes design workflows and field observation tools accessible via mobile app.
PG&E said the tool has cut field research and surveys by 40 percent and shortened design cycles by as much as four months on certain projects, according to a statement the utility released alongside CivilGrid's funding announcement. The California power company is undergrounding more than 1,200 miles of lines in an effort approved by state regulators, making early conflict detection a return-on-investment priority rather than a nice-to-have.
"California's energy needs are growing rapidly, and our customers expect us to deliver the infrastructure they need safely, reliably, and affordably," a PG&E senior vice president said in the company's release. "That means planning smarter from the start with tools like CivilGrid, which help our teams identify risks earlier, build more efficiently, and avoid unnecessary costs while keeping safety front and center."
A $30 Billion Problem, Half a Million Dig-Ins a Year
The Common Ground Alliance, an industry group tracking utility strikes, estimated in its 2019 DIRT report that accidental damage to underground infrastructure costs the U.S. economy roughly $30 billion annually. CivilGrid's website cites 500,000 dig-ins per year, though precise figures vary by methodology and reporting practices. What's clear is that the coordination problem persists.
CivilGrid counts utilities PG&E, Atmos Energy and San Jose Water as customers, alongside engineering firms GHD and Mark Thomas. The startup recently expanded into Arizona and Nevada, a move that followed its pre-seed round of $2.2 million led by Afore Capital in 2021. The company now employs around 70 people, according to recent public disclosures.
GHD, an international engineering consultancy, said the platform provides "instant access to utility information during the planning and early design stages," according to a statement issued last year. San Jose Water went further, writing that it recommends CivilGrid to all utilities as "a reliable source for the vital combined utility information that doesn't exist in most areas."
That last phrase—"doesn't exist in most areas"—captures the fragmentation investors are betting CivilGrid can solve. The American Society of Civil Engineers recently pegged the U.S. infrastructure investment gap at $3.7 trillion, even as it upgraded the nation's overall grade to C from C-minus. Mackanic framed the funding announcement around that figure, calling the current moment "a once-in-a-generation period of infrastructure renewal."
"CivilGrid gives cross-functional teams at PG&E and other leading utilities the confidence they need to plan effectively, reduce risk, and deliver projects affordably," he said in the release.
Competitive Pressures and the AI Angle
The subsurface mapping space has attracted serious capital in recent years. Exodigo, an Israel-based company using AI and multi-sensor scanning to map what's underground, closed a $96 million Series B in mid-2025. 4M Analytics, which generates underground maps from utility records using machine learning, secured a $30 million Series A extension and positions itself as "Google Maps of the subsurface." Traditional subsurface utility engineering providers and digital-twin platforms round out a field that's grown more crowded as infrastructure spending has accelerated.
Spark Capital partner Alex Finkelstein said in the release that CivilGrid is "establishing a new standard for how America builds," citing capital flows into AI data centers, defense projects, grid modernization and housing as execution-dependent trends. Energy Impact Partners, one of CivilGrid's Series A investors, is a venture firm backed by utility limited partners—a strategic alignment that could smooth adoption among power companies wary of unproven software.
The company declined to disclose its post-money valuation. CivilGrid plans to use the capital to accelerate national expansion and deepen its product capabilities, according to the announcement. Whether the platform can scale beyond its early utility customers into the broader construction ecosystem remains an open question, but the $60 million in avoided paving conflicts at PG&E suggests the unit economics might be compelling enough to find out.
