Carrying out increasingly complex infrastructure projects often means fending off challenges as diverse as they are common: rising costs, scope creep and poor communication quickly come to mind. At a time of growing climate change concerns, throw extreme weather into the mix.

Now with mentoring from global infrastructure solutions leader Black & Veatch, five startups are striving to perfect and scale answers — including the promise of evolving artificial intelligence and robotics technology — to some of those complex headwinds that often can make or break a project.

Black & Veatch has chosen a cohort of forward-thinking entrepreneurs to participate in its 2025 BV IgniteX accelerator, this time focusing on innovative project execution. As part of the 12-week program demonstrating the rigor of Black & Veatch’s culture of innovation, participants collaborate with the company’s subject matter experts who provide consultation and support towards co-developing, piloting and marketing their new technologies.

Along the way, the startups get mentorship, access to the company’s vast industry network, product testing opportunities, pitch development coaching and investor introductions. The program culminates with a showcase in which the entrepreneurs present their solutions and outline their value propositions and market opportunity.

“For more than a century, we’ve designed and built the human critical infrastructure that delivers reliable power and water. Accomplishing that has meant overcoming challenges while staying relevant by leveraging evolving technologies,” said Dave Simmons, a Black & Veatch associate vice president and operations technology and innovation leader serving as this year’s IgniteX sponsor.

The five 2025 BV IgniteX accelerator participants – among more than 70 applicants:

Benchmark Labs Inc. provides AI-based weather forecasts, recommendations and alerts for operations planning and field construction. The technology leverages in-situ sensors to provide actionable and accurate forecasts tailored to a specific location.

Cyphra Autonomy is developing the robotic workforce of the future for construction, starting with precision autonomous laborer (PAL) technology. PAL is a robotic hauler that’s simple to operate, built for the field and improves both job site efficiency and safety.

KEWAZO builds a physical AI platform for heavy industry, which spends more than $2 trillion annually on maintenance and construction. Kewazo automates this space with robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), starting with vertical material movement by replacing cranes and manual handling.

Leaf Automation trains proprietary machine learning models that automate complex computer assisted design (CAD) engineering tasks without using training data, starting with solar electrical design and expanding across construction verticals where automation previously has been infeasible.

Orbyfy translates climate risks into climate forces to determine actual impacts and damages on buildings, infrastructures and homes. The platform empowers organizations with explainable, city-scale simulations that translate climate hazards into actionable insights used for safeguarding the grid, underwriting portfolios or fortifying buildings, making climate risk impact data accessible and as easy as searching for an address.

The goals of this latest BV IgniteX cohort — the program’s sixth — include helping develop scalable solutions for greater safety and increased efficiency of project delivery through process innovation and digital disruption, bolstering information flow and project delivery speed, and automating processes.

More than 700 companies have applied to the BV IgniteX program, and the company has provided millions of dollars in grants, in-kind services and investments to selected companies.