Solvera Raises $6.3M Pre-Seed From Seedcamp to Build an AI Engineering Firm

Solvera, an Oslo-based startup building an AI-powered engineering firm, has raised $6.3 million in pre-seed funding led by Seedcamp. The round also included Construct Venture, the Inception Fund, Momentum, OBOS Ventures, PSV Tech, Sondo, and The Nordic Web Ventures, alongside angel investors including Spacemaker founders Anders Kvåle and Håvard Haukeland.

Founded in July 2026, Solvera takes a different approach to applying artificial intelligence in engineering. Rather than selling software licences to engineering firms, it delivers engineering services directly, using AI agents to complete much of the work under the supervision of experienced engineers.

The company is initially focusing on mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineering, a complex discipline involved in designing building systems. Solvera says it has already signed contracts worth $1 million within its first three months of operations and is running at full capacity.

The new funding will support hiring, further development of its AI-powered operating system, expansion in Oslo, and plans to open an office in London.

Spacemaker Alumni Build Their Next Venture

Solvera was founded by Arif Mirza, Pål Rasmussen, and Thorvald Thorsnes, who bring experience across architecture technology, engineering software, and energy technology.

Chief executive officer Arif Mirza spent almost a decade working to bring AI software into the construction industry. He began at Spacemaker, the architecture and urban planning technology company acquired by Autodesk for $240 million in 2020, before moving into leadership roles at Autodesk.

At Spacemaker, Mirza led international growth. He later worked on strategy and go-to-market activities for Autodesk Forma, a product that incorporates several capabilities developed by Spacemaker.

Chief technology officer Pål Rasmussen also held multiple leadership positions at Spacemaker and Autodesk over approximately ten years.

Chief commercial officer Thorvald Thorsnes previously co-founded Enode, a Y Combinator-backed startup that connects electric vehicles and other energy devices to applications. Enode raised $15 million in Series A funding in November 2022.

The founders' experience helped shape Solvera's central idea: engineering technology has advanced, but the way engineering work is delivered and paid for has changed much more slowly.

Mirza told Tech Funding News that he saw a persistent gap between what AI could technically accomplish and how professionals were using it in practice. He referenced an Anthropic study published in March 2026 that examined AI's impact on work and highlighted the difference between AI's potential capabilities and its actual use.

Mirza estimates that 85% of tasks in architecture and engineering could be completed at least twice as quickly, while AI is used in fewer than 5% of cases. These figures are his estimates as reported by the publication, rather than independently established industry-wide measurements.

Why Solvera Is Building an Engineering Firm Instead of Selling Software

Most engineering software companies sell tools that professionals incorporate into their existing workflows. Solvera is pursuing a different business model: it takes on engineering projects and accepts responsibility for delivering the resulting designs.

Customers pay for outcomes rather than software licences or consulting hours. AI agents handle a substantial portion of the work, while experienced engineers supervise the process and remain involved in engineering decisions.

Solvera aims to manage projects from initial requirements through to construction-ready designs. Its system is intended to learn from completed projects by incorporating engineers' judgement and reusing that knowledge in subsequent work.

The distinction is important. Selling software requires customers to adopt a new tool and change their internal processes. Delivering the engineering service directly allows Solvera to control more of the workflow and measure its performance through the work completed.

The approach also changes how the company expects to scale. Instead of relying exclusively on the productivity of individual engineers billing for their time, Solvera wants AI to increase the amount of engineering work its team can deliver.

However, the model also puts more responsibility on the startup. Solvera must deliver work that meets customer requirements, coordinate its technology with experienced professionals, and maintain quality as project volumes increase.

Starting With Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing Engineering

Solvera is beginning with MEP engineering, which covers the systems that make buildings functional, including mechanical equipment, electrical infrastructure, and plumbing.

MEP design involves balancing technical requirements, regulatory and project constraints, equipment capacities, and spatial limitations. Engineers must determine appropriate system sizes and layouts, coordinate their designs with other building disciplines, and revise plans as project requirements evolve.

These tasks can involve numerous traditional tools and repeated adjustments throughout a project.

Solvera is developing its AI-powered operating model to handle much of this engineering work while keeping experienced engineers responsible for supervision and decisions that require professional judgement.

The company is entering a market with significant projected demand. The article cites a Technavio forecast that the MEP services market will grow by $124.48 billion between 2025 and 2030, representing a projected annual growth rate of 12.7%. Data centre construction is identified as one of the drivers behind that expansion.

For Solvera, MEP engineering provides an initial market in which to test whether AI can improve the delivery of professional services. If its model proves effective, the company could eventually consider additional engineering disciplines.

$1 Million in Contracted Revenue Within Three Months

Solvera says it secured contracts worth $1 million during its first three months of operations. The company has a team of nine and is working on several building projects in Norway, spanning early-stage engineering through detailed design.

Its projects include commercial work for Betonmast, a Norwegian contractor that Solvera describes as one of the country's leading companies in the sector.

According to the article, Betonmast has approximately 500 employees and annual revenue of around 4.1 billion Norwegian kroner.

Mirza says demand currently exceeds the company's delivery capacity, forcing it to turn down additional projects. Solvera plans to use its new funding to expand both its technology team and its building engineering workforce.

The early contract figure offers an initial indication of customer demand, but contracted revenue is not necessarily the same as revenue already recognised or cash collected. The company will need to demonstrate that it can deliver projects reliably as it takes on more customers.

Scaling its engineering capacity without compromising design quality will be particularly important given its decision to accept responsibility for the service rather than simply licensing software.

Seedcamp Backs an Outcome-Based AI Services Model

Seedcamp led Solvera's $6.3 million pre-seed round, joined by Construct Venture, the Inception Fund, Momentum, OBOS Ventures, PSV Tech, Sondo, and The Nordic Web Ventures. Angel investors included Anders Kvåle and Håvard Haukeland, who co-founded Spacemaker.

Tom Wilson, a partner at Seedcamp, argued that construction has adopted new technology without fundamentally changing how professional work is delivered or priced. He said Solvera combines technical expertise with industry experience to address that gap, beginning with MEP engineering.

The investment reflects interest in AI companies that do more than provide productivity tools. By building an engineering business around its technology, Solvera is attempting to connect AI capabilities directly to the delivery and economics of professional services.

The model is not entirely without precedent. AI-driven services businesses in other professional fields have also sought to combine software automation with human expertise. The key question is whether this structure can produce consistent quality and better economics as the business grows.

Competition From AI Engineering Software Startups

Solvera is entering a market where other startups are already applying AI to engineering design.

Stockholm-based Endra raised $50 million in Series A funding in June 2026, with Andreessen Horowitz leading the round. Its software provides MEP design tools to engineering firms. The article reports that Endra's total funding reached $74 million within a year.

Toronto-based Augmenta, founded by specialists in Autodesk's generative design work, has also developed design agents for electrical, mechanical, and plumbing engineering. The article reports that the company had raised approximately $25.6 million by March 2025.

The primary difference is the business model. Endra and Augmenta sell technology that engineering firms use to perform their work. Solvera intends to deliver the engineering service itself, with AI serving as the underlying engine.

That difference creates both an opportunity and a challenge. Solvera can manage the complete workflow rather than depending on customers to implement its software, but it must also recruit engineering talent, manage projects, and meet delivery commitments.

Expansion Plans for Norway and the United Kingdom

Solvera plans to expand its technology and engineering teams with the new capital. It also intends to strengthen its presence in Oslo, establish an office in London, and continue developing the Solvera operating system.

Norway will serve as the company's initial testing ground, with the United Kingdom identified as its next target market.

The immediate priority is to establish that its AI-driven delivery model works across real engineering projects. The company must show that it can manage increasingly complex assignments, maintain professional oversight, and deliver construction-ready designs at the required standard.

Its longer-term prospects will depend on whether the combination of AI agents and experienced engineers can increase productivity enough to change the economics of engineering services.

Solvera's early contracted revenue suggests that customers are willing to explore the approach. Whether it can turn that initial demand into a scalable engineering business remains the central question as it moves beyond its first projects.