Two years ago, Lisa Mohapatra arrived in Canada from Bangalore with a plan to modernize one of the world’s most time-worn industries.
Her idea was to apply deep tech to preconstruction, which encompasses the planning, bidding and procurement phase of new developments.
“The bigger the problems, the better you become.”
Lisa Mohapatra, BidBlox AI
This, she said, is where delays and budget overruns often begin.
By targeting inefficiencies upstream, she believed she could help prevent the downstream issues that drive up project costs for developers and home-buyers alike.
“We observed a lot of inefficiencies in the process, and knew that technology could innovate and do things much more efficiently,” says Mohapatra, a mechanical engineer turned entrepreneur.
“Construction suffers from information asymmetry and huge material price volatility. Estimators and procurement managers spend thousands of hours doing manual work, which can be error-prone.”
Today, her Markham-based startup, BidBlox AI – co-founded with Katrina Sitkovits – uses multi-agent AI models to automate those workflows and identify early-stage risks. Sitkovits, the company’s CTO, brings a strong background in data science and AI, complementing Mohapatra’s domain and startup experience.
Together, they’ve built a platform often described as a kind of Bloomberg terminal for the construction trade – designed to help general contractors and engineering firms streamline their planning and reduce costly missteps.
“With AI, we realized it can actually save 50 percent of their time during the preconstruction phase,” Mohapatra said. “We’re trying to catch these things in the planning phase itself.”
Her vision has resonated. BidBlox rolled out its product earlier this year, secured pre-seed funding from Antler and has already landed enterprise clients across Canada and the US.
“My goal is to scale rapidly into global markets while driving unprecedented transparency and efficiency in the industry through innovative AI-powered solutions,” she added.
But building deep-tech solutions for legacy industries takes more than just vision and drive – it takes backing. For Mohapatra, that began in Markham, where she found early traction through the city’s growing innovation ecosystem.
Her entry point was ventureLAB, a regional tech hub that supports scale-ready startups in York Region. That connection has helped to open doors to a wider support network. Mohapatra later joined YSpace, York University’s innovation hub, and tapped into Intellectual Property Ontario for guidance on IP strategy.
What stood out the support she found in Markham’s ecosystem wasn’t just the quality of programming, but the level of commitment.
“They actually put in effort and time. That kind of support is rare,” she said.
In fact, when BidBlox was selected to pitch at Upper Bound, one of Canada’s largest deep-tech conferences, Mohapatra didn’t go alone.
“The ventureLAB team was there with me throughout the conference. They cheered for me.” She won the pitch competition, generating strong interest from North American construction firms.
The startup began its international push earlier this year. In February, BidBlox won the Toronto Roadshow iteration of the Expand North Star Dubai Pitch Competition, which gave the team an opportunity to showcase their offering in the United Arab Emirates.
Bidblox was also named one of the Top 20 Startups in TiECon Silicon Valley as part of the She Pitches She Wins competition, which is opening doors in the US market.
As one of the few women founders in construction tech, Mohapatra is aware of the doors she’s opening, and doesn’t take that responsibility lightly. She believes traditional industries offer the greatest potential for meaningful change, even if they lack the glamour of other sectors.
“The bigger the problems, the better you become,” she said. “It may take a certain amount of stress and toll on you. But if you’re able to deal with it, I think it’s a good place to be in.”
And with housing costs driving home ownership out of reach for many, Mohapatra believes greater efficiency in construction could be part of the solution. “Eventually, the whole process can be a lot more transparent and controlled,” she added.
As her startup gears up to go global, Mohapatra remains committed to help strengthen the ecosystem that supported her company from the start.
“Markham is pretty invested with the startups they work with. When I say invested, I mean they actually put effort and time in the startups—mentoring, making great connections, opening doors. That requires effort and vested interest,” she said.
“I’d love to contribute back to the community in any way possible.”
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Photos provided by Lisa Mohapatra.