Licify: Revolutionizing Latin America's Construction Industry with AI and Digital Innovation

Fernando Olloqui’s path from Wall Street to Latin American construction technology exemplifies how deep industry pain points often spark innovation. A 2007 graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute with degrees in mathematics and industrial engineering, Olloqui started his career at JP Morgan in New York during the financial crisis before pursuing an MBA at Columbia University.

While at Columbia, Olloqui co-founded OCG Capital, a real estate fund developing hotels in Colombia. Today, his company Licify serves over 70 of Latin America’s largest construction companies and connects more than 20,000 providers through its digital procurement platform. But this success emerged from firsthand experience with the industry’s fundamental challenges.

“We had some very nice Excel models that we did in New York in our real estate classes, and we came here, and they were as far from reality as could be,” Olloqui recalls. Despite working with one of Medellín’s premier construction companies, their projects consistently ran over budget and behind schedule.

Despite their best efforts, OCG Capital faced mounting challenges. Projects weren’t generating the expected returns, and finding new investors became increasingly difficult. When Olloqui began investigating why their projects were failing, he discovered a crucial insight: the construction companies were terrible at planning and executing procurement, which represented the largest cost component of any project.

This realization led Olloqui to explore the industry from a different angle. After winding down OCG Capital’s development operations while maintaining their existing hotel assets, he moved to the supplier side, becoming a major subcontractor for high-end finishes. This transition revealed the same fundamental problems from the opposite perspective: lack of transparency in bidding processes and severe cash flow constraints. “The more I sold, the less cash I had in my bank account,” he explains. “Because in construction, somehow subcontractors finance general contractors or real estate developers.”

These experiences on both sides of the construction industry led Olloqui to identify a critical market opportunity. In 2018, he founded Licify to tackle what he now understood to be the industry’s biggest challenge: procurement management. The timing was striking – in an era of sophisticated digital tools, many construction companies were still conducting million-dollar bids using printed Excel sheets and CD-ROMs.

Olloqui’s hard-won insights into the industry’s pain points have paid off. Licify’s impact has been significant – across more than $5 billion in negotiations, the platform has helped clients reduce direct construction costs by an average of 9.8%. Beyond cost savings, the system helps prevent potentially costly mistakes. Olloqui shares a telling example from late 2022, when Licify’s due diligence process identified a critical risk that nearly everyone had missed. “We had this client in Colombia that was about to award a bid for around $1 million to a company that had been working for them for 20 years,” Olloqui explains. “We looked at who they were going to award it to and discovered the company was in Chapter 11 reorganization. We had to call them and say, ‘Do you realize you’re about to give a $300,000 check to a company that’s getting reorganized, and that you’re probably not going to see that money?’ This was a top five builder in Colombia.” The example underscores how even experienced construction companies can benefit from better data and systematic procurement processes.

The company has captured significant market share in Colombia, working with approximately 70 of the largest construction companies and developers. They’ve also expanded into Mexico, focusing on the growing northern region where nearshoring is driving construction demand.

“What we’re building with Licify is the Procore of Latin America,” Olloqui explains, referencing the construction industry’s leading software platform. The company is now expanding beyond procurement into payments processing, addressing the industry’s persistent issues with cash flow and payment delays.

Looking ahead, Licify aims to build a comprehensive construction technology ecosystem, potentially incorporating other innovative startups. While the company isn’t actively seeking capital, Olloqui remains open to strategic investors, particularly family offices with construction industry ties who can provide both capital and market insights.

For Olloqui, success has come from understanding that technology adoption in construction requires both patience and persistence. “We were selling a product that people didn’t know existed, for a pain that they didn’t know they had,” he reflects. Through careful market strategy and demonstrable results, Licify has overcome initial skepticism to become an essential tool for many of Latin America’s largest builders. As the region’s construction industry continues to modernize, Licify appears well-positioned to lead the digital transformation.