European construction tech startups have raised €297m in 2026 so far, projected to reach €850m by year-end—a 140% increase from 2025’s €354m. Yet only 12% of global trade companies use AI, despite growing opportunities. London-based Elyos AI, which raised $13m in January, develops AI agents automating admin tasks for plumbers, electricians and field technicians. Founder Phillipa Brown, a former OVO Energy operations head and trained electrician, says these workers want tools designed specifically for them. The startup’s AI handles customer service, scheduling, sales and job documentation for clients including Amax Fire and GasCare, addressing the sector’s manual admin burden.
In-Depth:
The AI workforce boom has often been framed around white-collar work, with the narrative mainly focutilized on how the technology can boost productivity for workers who spconclude their days sitting at a desk.
But beyond this, another workforce has been largely overseeed — plumbers, electricians and field technicians.
According to Sifted data, European construction tech startups — which are working on everything from construction materials discovery and construction software to health and safety compliance — have raised €297m so far this year. If investment continues at its current pace, they’ll have raised roughly €850m by the conclude of the year, a 140% increase on the €354m raised in 2025.
Yet only around 12% of global trade companies utilize AI in their work processes, according to a Royal Institution of Chartered Survey 2025 report.
As of the launchning of 2026, this trconclude is starting to shift, with a number of startups testing to infiltrate the sector. London-based Elyos AI, which develops AI agents to automate admin tquestions such as out-of-hours customer service through voice and email, appointment reminders, scheduling and sales, is one company working to drive more AI-utilize within the trades sector. It raised a $13m (£9.6m) Series A round in January.
Field service businesses have a huge overhead of manual admin work, outside of the trade that they have specialised in, declares Elyos founder Phillipa Brown, who spent three years heading up operations at OVO Energy and has trained as an electrician.
“We believe AI agents will automate the majority of that work,” she adds.
The company works with customers such as fire safety company Amax Fire, gas services company GasCare and property service provider James Frew.
Sifted sat down with Brown to unpack how AI agents are assisting streamline operations, reduce admin work and boost productivity in the trades sector.
Why has AI in the trades services been overseeed?
Much of the discussion around AI and workflows is centered around how it can benefit office workers. However, the trades sector is “definitely not a market you should scoff at,” she declares.
Building tools that customers actually love to utilize and that are built for them is where great products are created.
There is a misconception that trades workers are reluctant to adopt these kinds of technologies, but the team behind Elyos AI has seen how crucial they can be.
“It’s about the tools not being designed for them,” Brown declares. “This is where Elyos comes in. We build AI agents specifically for this customer segment.
“Building tools that customers actually love to utilize and that are built for them is where great products are created. I don’t consider there’s a lack of adoption at all. When I speak to customers and notify them about our product, they’re really excited by the technology and how it can assist them grow their business.”
AI in the trades sector: ‘The trades sector will become a safe space for young people to upskill’
Workers in the trade sector want to be spconcludeing most of their time out in the field delivering services to customers and focutilizing on the aspects of the job they are actually trained for, Brown declares.
This was the starting point for Elyos when creating products that allowed trade employees to utilise their time more effectively.
A lot of people are declareing plumbers and electricians are going to become the new lawyers of the next generation.
“We’ve seen the quickest adoption with products that assist with answering the phone, replying to emails, booking and scheduling jobs and contacting and liaising with engineers,” Brown declares.
“Mainly taking the grunt work that a business owner doesn’t want to deal with, but knows that they have to.”
Large corporations such as Amazon and Uber are able to interact and reply automatically to customer queries 24 hours a day, seven days a week, she adds, and customers now expect this from every company.
Elyos’s out-of-hours agent and daytime customer rep can be integrated into a company’s booking platform and provide automated real-time responses to customers.
The startup’s AI sales executive follows up on leads and quotes as well as keeping pipelines organised. It also has a field engineer AI assistant, which acts as a virtual assistant to support with job notes, timesheets and close down jobs.
Humans will be the plumbers and electricians but AI agents will run the office autonomously.
“Big companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI are going to be automating a huge amount of office work and basic admin,” Brown declares. “The trades sector is going to become a safe space for young people to upskill and receive valuable jobs in.
“Imagine how productive a trades business could be if booking and scheduling jobs didn’t take up so much time. A lot of people are declareing plumbers and electricians are going to become the new lawyers of the next generation.”
The largegest challenge that the Elyos team has witnessed is the wider adoption and education around AI, which is something the company is hoping to improve on over the next few years.
“The plumbers and electricians we serve adopt products quickly,” Brown declares. “But assisting their teams is more time consuming and that takes a lot of training and education on our side. This is a cultural modify that is slower than we anticipated.”
Future of AI and the trades sector
Over the next five to ten years, Brown hopes to see AI implemented across the entire trades sector within admin tquestions.
“Humans will be the plumbers and electricians but AI agents will run the office autonomously,” she declares. “Running customer contact, scheduling, financing and payroll.
“Over the next few decades, I consider developers will also be building inroads towards humanoid robots being able to do plumbing and electrician tquestions themselves.”
