Mawi: The startup looking to get the construction industry off Excel and WhatsApp

Sergio Monge has spent years building technology. First, through a software agency that worked with startups and companies in the United States. Later, collaborating with companies such as PedidosYa, where he began to get closer to the Latin American tech ecosystem.

But Mawi didn’t start out as construction software. The company’s first version was a marketplace connecting people offering home services with end customers.

And although the product began to grow, something wasn’t quite working: small margins, limited markets, and too much operational complexity. The real insight came later.

While working with small construction companies and remodeling projects, Sergio and his team began to notice a pattern that repeated itself almost every time: cost overruns, delays, and very little financial clarity about what was happening within each project. That’s where Mawi was born.

Today, the startup is building a financial platform for construction companies that aims to replace processes that still run on Excel, WhatsApp, and phone calls.

Mawi didn’t start out as construction software. When did you make the pivot?

We started in 2020 with a home services marketplace. We connected people who did cleaning, gardening, car washing, and other services with end customers. The product worked quite well, and we facilitated hundreds of services.

But we quickly realized something: we were in a market that was too small and had very low margins. So we made an initial pivot toward larger projects:

● Remodeling

● Architecture

● Small-scale construction.

That’s when the real problem emerged. Almost every project had cost overruns and delays. So we began asking ourselves: Why wasn’t anyone helping these companies really control their finances and budgets?

That was the first spark of what Mawi is today.

What is Mawi today?

Today, Mawi is a financial operating system for construction companies. The platform helps construction companies manage budgets, purchases, materials, payments, and subcontracting in real time to avoid cost overruns and improve project profitability.

The idea is simple: to help construction companies understand exactly what’s happening financially on every job. Because in construction, problems usually show up too late.

By then, there’s already a major cost overrun or the project is behind schedule. What we do is connect all that financial activity to the original budget so companies can make decisions much earlier.

How difficult has it been to change habits in an industry that still relies heavily on Excel and WhatsApp?

At first, it was really tough. We came from the software world and wanted to build a super-automated product where the customer would sign up, pay, and onboard themselves.

But we entered an industry where many companies still operate primarily with Excel, WhatsApp, and email. So we understood something important: we couldn’t force users to completely change the way they work overnight.

We had to build around the tools they already knew. That’s why WhatsApp, Excel, and email are now integrated into Mawi. And interestingly, AI has dramatically changed the market’s mindset.

A few years ago, it was hard to convince companies to use technology. Today, customers are much more demanding. They now expect automation, speed, and much smoother experiences. And that has greatly accelerated adoption.

Who is Mawi’s ideal customer today?

Our ideal customer is a mid-sized construction company. Typically, these are companies managing residential or commercial projects, with between three and ten people handling operations and finance.

Most still work primarily in Excel and WhatsApp. And that’s something we see across practically all of Latin America.

Today, we have customers in more than ten countries, and the problems are very similar:

● Lack of financial visibility

● Outdated budgets

● Disorganized payments

● Poor traceability.

Mexico is currently our fastest-growing market.

You said something interesting: AI has changed customer expectations. How are you seeing that?

We used to talk a lot about construction as a technologically backward industry. But AI brought about a major shift.

Today, customers expect much smoother experiences. They’re used to using Uber, Airbnb, or really well-designed platforms in their daily lives, and they’re starting to demand the same at work.

So any small error or friction becomes much more noticeable. And although that raises the bar for us, it’s also a very good thing because it significantly raises the product standard. I think AI helped accelerate a cultural shift that probably would have taken many more years.

What’s next for Mawi this year?

Our goal is to become the financial operating system for construction in Latin America. To get there, we’re working on two important things.

The first is to give our customers more financial insight. We already process billions of dollars in budgets, which allows us to start generating much more valuable historical data for construction companies.

For example:

● How much it costs to build in certain cities

● How costs change

● Or how certain types of projects perform.

The second is to move money directly through the platform. Many construction companies still make manual payments to suppliers or subcontractors outside the system. Our vision is to integrate fintech capabilities into Mawi so everything happens in one place.

What have you learned outside of work that helps you as an entrepreneur today?

Triathlon. It has taught me a lot about pacing, rest, and pushing yourself. In sports, you quickly realize you can’t go all out every day. You also need recovery, consistency, and to compete with people who are better than you so you can grow.

And I think that applies a lot to building a company. There are times when you have to push really hard and demand a lot from the team, but there are also times when you need to slow down, rest, and refresh your ideas. Sports have helped me understand those cycles.

Construction still runs on Excel

For years, the construction industry in Latin America has operated with fragmented processes, hard-to-manage budgets, and financial decisions that often come too late. That’s where Mawi is trying to build.

Not just financial software, but an operational layer that helps mid-sized construction companies better understand their projects and eventually move money from one place. And perhaps that’s exactly where the opportunity lies.

Because while other industries completed their digital transformation years ago, much of construction is still running on Excel, WhatsApp, and phone calls.

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Interview by: Eduardo Hernández, Head of Startup Avenue at Volcano Summit and Partner at Leapstart, where he drives startup growth and the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.