WakeCap, the UAE-based construction technology startup has closed $1.6 million in seed investment from a group of global investors including Consolidated Contractor Company, Graphene Ventures in Silicon Valley, Abunayyan Holding and Inspire Ventures from Saudi Arabia as well as startAD Seed.

WakeCap is a safety and tacking device attached to standard construction helmets that workers wear to provide managers with real-time access to each worker’s daily attendance, live-location and accidents. Using cloud-based technology, it enables a two-way alerting system for workers to report hazards on the spot, helping to improve safety and productivity on construction sites.

The investment will be used for product development and expanding its customer base across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena).

“startAD supports hardware startups in the ecosystem and we believe that in addition to disrupting the market, these startups leveraging AI [artificial intelligence] and machine learning will disrupt the way society lives in the second machine age,” said Ramesh Jagannathan, managing director at  startAD. “WakeCap has created a transformational solution that values human life and productivity at its core and can be applied with ease to significantly benefit a trillion-dollar industry.”