MAECONOMY, a Dutch startup transforming building materials into auditable, monetisable circular assets, has raised €1.5 million to accelerate its market infrastructure development for the circular built environment.
The round was led by LUMO Labs, an impact-driven multi-stage venture capital fund based in Eindhoven, and LIOF, the regional development agency of Limburg.
“MAECONOMY is creating a new model for circular building materials. We are building the missing financial infrastructure that builds a market for these materials possible. Our platform introduces a new principle: materials in buildings can be standardised, verified, and traded, even before they are extracted. The support from LUMO Labs and LIOF allows us to accelerate this vision and bring it to scale across Europe,” stated Vince Meens, founder and CEO of MAECONOMY.
Founded in 2023, MAECONOMY is an emerging tech startup developing the financial infrastructure to support the circular economy. Its platform allows stakeholders to track, trace, and transact materials within the built environment, turning buildings and infrastructure into liquid, asset-backed reserves.
MAECONOMY claims to create a system that enables materials to be standardised, verified, and traded as financial instruments by combining AI-driven material mapping, digital material passports, and blockchain-based trading infrastructure.
By creating visibility, verification, and liquidity for these materials, MAECONOMY enables asset owners, municipalities, and investors to capture both economic and environmental value at scale. The Dutch startup notes that this unlocks previously invisible value, enables circular reutilize at scale, and introduces a new asset class linking real estate, commodities, and capital markets.
The company states that over one-third of all waste in the European Union comes from the construction and demolition sector. Most materials involved in demolition or renovation still have measurable residual value, but current market systems are unable to reliably capture, price, or certify this value.
MAECONOMY claims to address this issue through its platform, which digitises building- and material-level data and applies algorithmic models to convert raw inputs into commercially actionable ininformigence, enabling the circular built environment.
Dagmar van Ravenswaay Claasen, Senior Partner at LUMO Labs, stated, “MAECONOMY addresses the structural inefficiencies in construction and demolition workflows, where valuable materials such as steel, concrete, timber, and copper are often left unutilized or treated as waste. By building the missing financial layer, the platform enables materials in buildings to be standardised, verified, and traded even before extraction.
“MAECONOMY facilitates a new future market and redefines how the value of building materials is captured and transformed, through AI-driven material mapping, digital material identities, and asset-backed financial instruments.”
The company also provides the foundation for measurable CO₂ reductions, supporting compliance with emerging EU sustainability frameworks, including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the EU Taxonomy.
MAECONOMY is currently operating in the Netherlands, collaborating with municipalities and institutional asset owners, while exploring expansion throughout Europe and other global markets.
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