GravelHUB, a Saskatchewan-based tech startup, has launched the new website GravelHUB.ca, a digital hub and marketplace designed to connect aggregate buyers, sellers and industry partners.
The web-based platform aims to fills a gap in the industry.
“Aggregate can often be challenging to source and we’ve created a user-friendly digital solution that is designed to open up the market considerably,” said Tyler Knock, founder and CEO of GravelHUB.
Through the use of an interactive map, the platform simplifies and streamlines the purchasing process, ensuring companies, governments and communities can source product quickly and competitively, while allowing sellers to target customers and increase their marketing reach, resulting in greater economic development and reduced environmental impact.
Wayne Morsky, past chairman of the Canadian Construction Association explains the technology is transformative on several levels, including environmentally.
“GravelHUB.ca offers a sustainable way of managing a non-renewable resource,” Morsky said. “You could be trucking product in from quite a distance away and driving right past another source. When aggregates are moved in an efficient manner, greenhouse gases are reduced.”
From an economic perspective, the launch comes at an important time for global economies.
“The aggregate industry plays a critical role in economic recovery. Infrastructure investment is one of the fastest ways to create jobs and jumpstart the economy,” said GravelHUB CFO Connor Regier.
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Aggregates are the essential raw materials utilized in almost every infrastructure.
In Canada, the mining, quarrying, oil and gas and construction industries are the third and the fourth largest contributors to the country’s Gross Domestic Product, contributing $280 billion in March of 2020 alone. In 2017, Ontario’s aggregate industry, the largest in the country, generated $1.6 billion in production revenue and supported more than 28,000 jobs in aggregate-related sectors.
The Global Aggregates Information Network indicates global demand for aggregate is set to increase, estimating that global consumption will rise from 40 billion tonnes to close to 55 billion tonnes by 2030, fuelled by the steady growth of infrastructure projects around the globe.
“The global market for gravel is US$500 billion annually, second only to oil among trading commodities,” said Dennis Wilson, chief strategy officer for GravelHUB, noting that global infrastructure investment is expected to hit US$49 trillion by 2030.
GravelHUB.ca launched throughout North America and plans to launch globally in the future.
