# Argile

Aiolum story: https://aiolum.com/story/argile/ · added 2026-11-06 · updated 2026-11-06

**In short.** Argile (AI software for energy-renovation contractors: 3D building reconstruction from a phone video, sizing, works plans and quotes, France): US$500K a year in recurring revenue, July 2026. Evidence grade D: reported, not verified. Team: 1 founder named by the press, Pierre-Louis Guhur, whom the company's own site calls co-founder; 8 to 15 people on the Ascent Valley profile read 6 November 2026. Launched 2023; still running, revenue growing.

AI software for energy-renovation contractors: 3D building reconstruction from a phone video, sizing, works plans and quotes · France · AI-native · started small, grew after funding · still running, revenue growing · group: Operations, logistics and trades

- Outcome: US$500K a year in recurring revenue, July 2026 (evidence grade of the headline number: D; headline in US dollars: 500000)
- Launch: 2023; months from launch to the outcome: 36
- Team: 1 founder named by the press, Pierre-Louis Guhur, whom the company's own site calls co-founder; 8 to 15 people on the Ascent Valley profile read 6 November 2026
- Outside funding: Seed stage, US$2M listed as funding on the Ascent Valley profile (founder-submitted; not stated whether raised or sought)
- Main factor: Domain rules in the software
- Meters, 1 to 4: evidence strength 1, copyable pattern 1, capital needed 2
- Tags: AI-native, Small team, Funded, Running, B2B, Construction

Links:

- Visit argile.ai: https://www.argile.ai/

**The product.** Software for French energy-renovation companies (heat pumps, insulation, solar). From an address it predicts what the building is like; from a two-minute phone video it rebuilds the building in 3D and takes measurements; from a recorded sales visit it proposes a works plan. It then sizes the equipment, writes the quote with the state subsidies deducted, and follows the work site.

**Why it worked.** French renovation quotes depend on subsidy and tax rules that change every few months, and the small firm that installs the equipment bears the risk of a wrong file. Argile puts those rules and the building calculation methods into the software, so a salesperson can give a detailed quote within an hour of a visit instead of weeks later.

Evidence grades: A = disclosed by a public company, a filing or a payment processor, or verified by one; B = two or more independent reports agree, or a journalist confirmed it; C = a founder claim that no one else verified; D = reported, not verified: one founder claim or a third-party estimate with no second source; E = no revenue figure found, so the headline is a non-money fact and the other facts carry their own grades; calc = computed on this page from graded facts.

## Summary

Argile is a vertical SaaS product, software rented by subscription to one trade, here French energy-renovation contractors. Its AI does three jobs. It predicts a building's surface, age and heating from its address and public data. It makes a 3D reconstruction, a measured digital model of the rooms and walls, from a short phone video. It listens to the recording of a sales visit and picks a works plan from several hundred that it tests. The software then applies the French 3CL-DPE method, the official way to compute a home's energy label, and the NF EN 12831 standard for heat-load sizing, and writes the quote with the MaPrimeRénov' and CEE subsidies deducted.

It is published by REMI SAS, registered in 2023 in Bry-sur-Marne near Paris. Pierre-Louis Guhur, a doctor in machine learning who prepared his thesis at Inria, founded it after renovating a house with friends from the École normale supérieure. In April 2026 he told the trade site Batinfo that more than 2,000 companies were being deployed on the platform and analysed more than ten thousand homes a month. Prices are per user and month: €49, €79 or €99 billed yearly.

The only revenue figure is one the company gave itself: the Ascent Valley investor network lists US$500K ARR and 15% monthly growth for Argile, on a founder card from a pitch event on 29 July 2026. No payment processor, filing or journalist has confirmed it, so this story is grade D. The same profile gives a team of 8 to 15 people and US$2M of funding, so the business started small but is no longer a small team.

## Pricing

Argile prices on its pricing page, read 6 November 2026, in euros excluding VAT, converted at US$1.1163 per euro (Federal Reserve H.10, 30 October 2026)

| Plan | Per month, billed yearly (US$) | Per month, billed monthly (US$) | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support (quotes, invoices, subsidy files) | 54.70 | 65.86 | per user |
| Sales (qualification, sizing, works plan, quotes) | 88.19 | 106.05 | per user |
| Full (Sales and Support, site follow-up, AI agent) | 110.51 | 132.84 | per user |
| Simulator add-on, 25 simulations | 55.82 |  | per company |
| Simulator add-on, 100 simulations | 111.63 |  | per company |
| Simulator add-on, 250 simulations | 223.26 |  | per company |
| Enterprise | custom |  | contract |

Prices are per user and per month; each user gets the module that matches their role. Monthly billing without commitment costs €59, €95 and €119. The Simulator add-on is billed per company, its monthly price without commitment is not shown, and each simulation above 250 a month costs €0.50 (about US$0.56). Enterprise is priced with the sales team.

## How much revenue does Argile make? The numbers, graded

A founder-stated US$500K a year in recurring revenue in July 2026, with every other number from the company's own pages or interviews

| Fact | Value | Grade | Note | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual recurring revenue, July 2026 | US$500K, as stated by the company | D | Ascent Valley founder card for a pitch at Investor Connect: Pitch & Deal Flow Night, San Jose, 29 July 2026: "$500K ARR". The startup profile repeats it under Key Metrics without a date. Both come from what the company submitted, so they count as one source. | [1, 2] |
| Monthly growth, July 2026 | 15% a month, as stated by the company | D | Same founder card and profile: "15% MoM". | [1, 2] |
| Monthly recurring revenue from the ARR figure | about US$41,667 a month | calc | Calculated: the company's stated US$500,000 a year divided by 12. | [1] |
| Users and customers, as listed on the profile | 3K+ users, +2K customers | D | Ascent Valley profile, read 6 November 2026. The profile's own description says "1,300+ users", which does not match. | [1] |
| Companies on the platform, April 2026 | more than 2,000, analysing more than ten thousand homes a month | C | Founder in Batinfo, 10 April 2026: "On se déploie sur plus de 2 000 entreprises, qui analysent plus de dix milles logements chaque mois" (We are being deployed on more than 2,000 companies, which analyse more than ten thousand homes every month; translation). The Ascent Valley profile says "10,000+ projects per month". | [7, 1] |
| Team | 8 to 15 people | D | Ascent Valley profile, "Team Size 8–15 people". The company's about page names three managers: the CEO and co-founder, a COO who joined in March 2024, and a CPO. The site says it is hiring. | [1, 5] |
| Founder | Pierre-Louis Guhur, CEO | C | Journal du Grand Paris, 24 September 2025: "Fondateur d'Argile, Pierre-Louis Guhur". Batinfo calls him "CEO et fondateur"; the company's about page says "CEO et cofondateur" and that he holds a doctorate in machine learning prepared at Inria. No source names a second founder. | [8, 7, 5] |
| Company | REMI SAS, registered in 2023, RCS Créteil 982 137 390 | C | Legal notice: share capital €1,449.54, head office in Bry-sur-Marne, France. The about page: "société française immatriculée en 2023" (French company registered in 2023; translation). | [6, 5] |
| Funding | US$2M listed, seed stage | D | Ascent Valley profile: "Stage Seed", "Funding $2M", and also "Looking For Investors". The page does not say whether the US$2M was raised or is the amount sought. | [1] |
| Prices | €49, €79 and €99 per user per month billed yearly; €59, €95 and €119 monthly | C | Pricing page, read 6 November 2026, excluding VAT. In US dollars at the 30 October 2026 rate: about US$54.70, US$88.19 and US$110.51 billed yearly. | [4, 10] |
| Training data for its models | more than 100,000 buildings scanned by users | C | Founder in Batinfo, April 2026: deterministic building physics, "que nous enrichissons progressivement avec des modèles entraînés sur plus de 100.000 bâtiments scannés par nos utilisateurs" (which we enrich step by step with models trained on more than 100,000 buildings scanned by our users; translation). | [7] |
| Claimed effect for customers | up to 30% more signed quotes and up to 80% less time per project | C | Founder in Batinfo, as reported by contractors; the home page shows "+30% de devis signés". These are customer outcomes, not Argile's revenue, and nobody outside checked them. | [7, 3] |
| Equipment catalogue | more than 100 brands and 10,000 product references | C | Home page, read 6 November 2026. | [3] |
| Time from launch to the July 2026 figure | about 36 months | calc | Calculated: from mid-2023 (the company was registered in 2023; the month is not published) to July 2026. | [5, 2] |

How to read this table: a grade D value is a single company statement with one date and no second source. A grade C value is a company statement that another source repeats or that comes from the company's own published pages. A "calc" value was computed on this page. No value is grade A or B.

## When did Argile launch, and how did it grow? Timeline

From a house renovation by a machine-learning researcher to a subscription tool for French renovation firms, in about three years. Each entry carries its grade.

- **2017** (grade C [5, 8]): Pierre-Louis Guhur renovates a house with his own hands, an experience the company gives as the reason it exists.
- **2023** (grade C [5, 6]): REMI SAS, the publisher of Argile, is registered in France.
- **March 2024** (grade C [5]): A COO joins after strategy consulting and a chief-of-staff role in housing adaptation.
- **19 June 2025** (grade C [8]): The founder presents Argile as a renovation "copilote" at the Assises du Grand Paris; the Journal du Grand Paris reports it on 24 September 2025.
- **10 April 2026** (grade C [7]): Batinfo interview: more than 2,000 companies, more than ten thousand homes analysed a month, partnerships with Viessmann, Thermor, Effy and HomeServe.
- **May to September 2026** (grade C [9]): Four appearances on BFM Business, listed on the company's press page.
- **29 July 2026** (grade D [2]): Pitch at an Ascent Valley investor evening in San Jose; the founder card lists US$500K ARR and 15% monthly growth, as stated by the company.
- **November 2026** (grade C [4]): Pricing page shows three modules from €49 to €99 per user per month, a Simulator add-on and an Enterprise plan.

## Why did Argile work?

### Domain rules in the software

The about page says the 3CL-DPE method, the NF EN 12831 standard and the subsidy sheets are implemented as written and updated when the texts change. A small contractor cannot follow every revised subsidy rule; software that does it for every customer at once is what the subscription pays for.

### Physics first, AI on top

The founder describes a base of deterministic building physics at regulatory quality, enriched with models trained on more than 100,000 buildings scanned by users. The AI fills in measurements and missing facts; the regulated calculation stays rule-based, which is what a quote must be able to defend.

### Data that grows with use

Each phone video a user records becomes labelled building data. The Ascent Valley profile calls the goal a "world model for buildings", a model that predicts a building's features and energy use from images and scans.

### Free content and tools

The about page counts 1,046 published articles and 25 free calculation tools without an account. No source says how many customers come from them, so the channel on this page is "unknown".

## How it was built

These details come from the company's own pages and the founder's interview. They are grade C.

- 3D reconstruction and measurements from a smartphone video taken during the technical visit, with automatic detection of walls, openings and their orientation.
- Remote building knowledge from an address, by joining the energy label database, land registry data and boiler maintenance records, according to the founder.
- An AI agent that listens to the recording of a sales visit and chooses among several hundred tested works plans; the home page example tests 327.
- Calculation engines written to the 3CL-DPE 2021 method and the NF EN 12831 standard, then the quote, the subsidy file, invoicing and site follow-up.
- A Simulator that a contractor embeds on its own website; each visitor simulation arrives in Argile as a lead.
- No source names an outside AI model provider; the founder describes the models as trained on the company's own scans.

Sources: [3, 5, 7, 8, 4]

## Who tried this before Argile, and why did they fail?

Three companies in our database of failed startups tried to fix home renovation with a platform between homeowners and contractors. The values below are from that database and are not independently verified.

The failed startups come from our database of dead startups, retold here in our own words; Its entries are AI-assisted summaries of public sources, so they carry no evidence grade.

### Pro.com (2014 to 2020; funding US$60.8M; cause: Competition)

- Promise: One platform from estimate to finished job, connecting homeowners with reliable contractors.
- Why it died: Could not scale a service that needed both technology and heavy operations in a fragmented, local market with better-known rivals.
- Record: 

### Kaodim (2014 to 2022; funding US$17M; cause: Unit Economics)

- Promise: A Southeast Asian marketplace where homeowners get quotes from local contractors, renovation included.
- Why it died: It charged contractors for leads rather than completed jobs; leads converted badly, providers left and quality fell.
- Record: 

### Iwjw (Love Home) (2014 to 2019; funding US$200M; cause: Unit Economics)

- Promise: Standardised, transparent home renovation and interior design in China through one platform.
- Why it died: Each project needed the same operating cost, homeowners rarely came back, and contractors could leave the platform after one job.
- Record: 

## What changed

All three predecessors stood between the homeowner and the contractor and tried to earn from the job: a lead fee, a commission or managed projects. They carried the cost of each renovation without owning the work, and contractors could go around them.

Argile sells to the contractor, per user, and does not take part in the job. Its product is the preparation work that a contractor would otherwise do by hand: measuring, sizing, the energy-label projection and the subsidy file. Two things made this possible after 2022: phone video can now be turned into a measured 3D model, and AI models can listen to a sales visit and propose a plan. Whether it lasts depends on the French subsidy schemes, which the press page shows changing in 2026.

## Can one person copy Argile now?

**Verdict: The pattern, yes. This product, hardly alone.**

Argile combines a doctorate in machine learning, 3D reconstruction and a large body of French building regulation, and it now has a team of 8 to 15 people according to its investor profile. One person could copy the pattern in a narrower trade: pick a regulated quote that small firms prepare by hand, put the rules into software, and sell it per user.

1. Find a trade where the quote depends on rules that change often, such as subsidies, standards or tax rates.
2. Implement the official calculation method exactly, and use AI only for the inputs: measurements, photos, transcripts.
3. Sell per user and per role, so that a two-person firm can start small.
4. Publish the rules as free articles and calculators, and keep them current when the rules change.

**What is still open.** Other countries' renovation subsidy schemes, and other regulated quotes for small firms: electrical compliance, fire safety, accessibility works.

## What could go wrong for Argile?

- **What is not verified.** The US$500K ARR and the 15% monthly growth rest on one source: what the company submitted to the Ascent Valley investor network, shown on a founder card for a pitch on 29 July 2026 and on its startup profile. No payment processor, filing or journalist confirms them. A reader could look for a funding announcement with figures, a company accounts filing for REMI SAS, or a second interview that repeats the number. The profile also lists "3K+ users" while its own text says "1,300+ users", and it places the company in the Netherlands although the publisher is a French company.
- **Team and funding.** The press names one founder; the company's site calls him co-founder and names no second founder. The Ascent Valley profile gives 8 to 15 people and "Funding $2M" at seed stage next to "Looking For Investors", so it is not clear whether the US$2M has been raised. With up to 15 people, this is shown as a team that started small and grew, not as a small team.
- **Dependence on subsidy rules.** The product's value comes from French schemes such as MaPrimeRénov' and CEE certificates. The press page lists 2026 articles on a new MaPrimeRénov' formula; a cut or a freeze in those schemes would reduce the work that Argile's customers can sell.
- **Competition and model providers.** On this site, AngebotFix (AI quotes for German tradespeople) and Blueprint Crusher (AI cost estimating from tender documents) sell similar quote preparation; the company's own FAQ compares Argile with Kelvin. No source names an outside AI model provider: the founder says the models are trained on more than 100,000 buildings scanned by users, so dependence on OpenAI, Anthropic or Google is not shown either way.
- **Unchecked marketing claims.** The home page shows "+30% de devis signés" and the founder speaks of up to 80% time saved, both as reported by contractors; the Batinfo interview is marked "Source : Argile", so it is company-supplied. The home page has a block "Ils utilisent déjà Argile" (They already use Argile) and the about page counts 1,046 blog articles by three managers. The product also offers a "WhatsApp du BTP" feature and a voice agent; the sources do not say whether the voice agent calls homeowners or how it presents itself.

## Sources

1. Ascent Valley startup profile: argile — World model for buildings — https://ascentvalley.com/startups/argile (grade D). Read in full on 6 November 2026. Company-submitted profile. Source for the ARR, growth, users, customers, team size, stage and funding lines.
2. Ascent Valley home page, founder cards — https://ascentvalley.com/ (grade D). Read the argile card, downloaded 6 November 2026. Gives the pitch event, San Jose, 29 July 2026, with "$500K ARR" and "15% MoM".
3. Argile home page: Argile - Filmez, dictez, c'est signé — https://www.argile.ai/ (grade C). Read in full, downloaded 6 November 2026. Source for the product description, the +30% claim and the catalogue size.
4. Argile pricing page: Tarifs | Argile — https://www.argile.ai/tarifications (grade C). Read in full on 6 November 2026. Source for all prices.
5. Argile about page: À propos d'Argile : qui nous sommes et qui écrit ici — https://www.argile.ai/a-propos (grade C). Read in full on 6 November 2026. Source for the managers, the founder's background, the 2023 registration and the article counts.
6. Argile legal notice: Mentions légales — https://www.argile.ai/mentions-legales (grade C). Read in full on 6 November 2026. Source for REMI SAS, its register number, share capital and head office.
7. Batinfo, 10 April 2026: Rencontre avec Pierre-Louis Guhur, CEO et fondateur d'Argile — https://batinfo.com/interview/rencontre-avec-pierre-louis-guhur-ceo-et-fondateur-d-argile_35616 (grade C). Read in full. Interview by Raphaël Garinot, marked "Source : Argile". Source for the company counts, the training data, the partners and the customer claims.
8. Le Journal du Grand Paris, 24 September 2025: La rénovation énergétique à l'heure des start-up — https://www.lejournaldugrandparis.fr/la-renovation-energetique-a-lheure-des-start-up/ (grade C). Read the section on Argile. Source for the founder's story and the 19 June 2025 round table.
9. Argile press page: Presse et médias — https://www.argile.ai/presse (grade C). Read in full on 6 November 2026. List of TV interviews and articles; the linked articles were not read except Batinfo and the Journal du Grand Paris.
10. Federal Reserve Board, H.10 historical rates: US dollars per euro — https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h10/hist/dat00_eu.htm (grade A). Downloaded the daily table on 6 November 2026 and used the rate of 30 October 2026, US$1.1163 per euro, for the price conversion. It says nothing about Argile.
11. Database of failed startups, local export — /method/#dead (grade C). Local export. AI-written summaries, not independently verified. Source for the failed predecessors.

Contact: aiolum@livyden.com. Run Argile? Send corrections or a verified figure to aiolum@livyden.com (subject: Correction: Argile).