Alkali

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The smarter way to estimate steel.

Spring 2025Founded 20252 peopleSan Francisco, CA, USA

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About

Alkali is building the next generation of estimation tools for construction.

From their website

as of Jun 7, 2026alkali.engineering ↗

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Alkali provides AI-assisted takeoff and estimation for steel projects, enabling users to extract quantities from PDF bid sets, collaborate in real time, and export data to downstream tools. It focuses on automating detection of steel members and calculating tonnage with built-in AISC weights, plus workflow features for revisions and nesting.

Alkali is an online PDF markup and takeoff tool for steel estimation that automatically detects beams, columns, joists, braces, base plates, and panels. It uses AI takeoff assist with built-in AISC weights to calculate project tonnage, supports nesting to create stock-aware plans, and enables exports to Tekla, Bluebeam, Adobe, and Excel. It includes built-in search across bid sets, revision tracking, and real-time collaboration with team members. It also offers exportable material lists and the ability to convert takeoffs into nesting and to share projects with teammates via links or email.

Who it’s for: Steel fabricators and estimating teams needing faster, AI-assisted takeoffs from PDF bid sets for structural steel projects.

Features

AI-assisted takeoff from PDFs
Automatic detection of beams, columns, joists, braces, base plates
Built-in AISC weights for tonnage calculations
Nesting and stock-aware planning
Export to Tekla, Bluebeam, Adobe, and Excel
Real-time collaboration with live cursors
Intelligent bid-set search and revision tracking

mentions of built-in collaboration features and ongoing user adoption; launched with cloud-based, online tooling and partnerships; company appears to be actively developing and promoting its product

Founders · 2

Emmett GoodmanFounder

Background in Chemical Engineering and GenAI. Building the first AI Chemical Process Engineer 🤖🧪

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Victor MillerFounder

I am a chemical engineer, laboratory scientist, and data scientist, all by training and profession. I blend data-driven methods with chemical techniques to get results. I am currently the co-founder of Alkali Engineering, working to build the world's first AI process engineer.

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Launch

Launched on Y Combinator · May 2025

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Build chemical projects faster.

Alkali Engineering launches ProcessMate, an AI-powered platform that checks chemical process designs for errors and automates equipment sourcing to help scale from lab results to commercial plants on time and within budget, targeting project managers, vendors, and EPC firms.