Ben Price, director of strategic growth for North America at Umdasch Group, is one of our top 50 Emerging Leaders in corporate venturing for 2026.
Ben Price was excited to get back into investing in the built environment sector, when he recently joined Umdasch Group, a 150-year-old Austrian, family-owned shuttering, scaffolding and shop outfitting company. Price is focused on finding new revenue and adjacent markets through venturing and acquisitions.
Price was an investor for Saint-Gobain and Orbia before joining Umdasch as director of strategic growth for North America in September 2025. He is based in Boston on the US east coast, where a strong ecosystem of robotics startups, a key investment area for Umdasch, has established itself.
Price’s role is in startup investing, but he also has a heavy focus on acquisitions and entering partnerships to meet the company’s growth ambitions. The growth and ventures team of nine seeks to invest in and acquire businesses with solutions across job-site efficiency and automation, renovation, modern methods of construction and disruptive and digital business models. He is particularly excited by AI-driven automation technologies deployed on construction sites, which can add efficiency and improve safety. “It is a really exciting time after 20 plus years of developing automation solutions, and we are finally seeing real-world adoption adding value today,” he says.
“I have goals to drive substantial growth. That means multiple transactions every year, consisting of acquisitions and investments; and to grow that number year on year”
The venturing team has ambitious goals around transacting, through a combination of investments, acquisitions and partnerships. “I have goals to drive substantial growth. That means multiple transactions every year, consisting of acquisitions and investments; and to grow that number year on year,” says Price.
The venture team is focusing on investing in later-stage startups that can deliver revenue as soon as possible. “We will have some early-stage conversations, but the emphasis and financial focus on investments or acquisitions will be around solutions that are developed and ready to be deployed today, where we can drive growth,” says Price.
The Emerging Leaders are mid-career corporate venture professionals who are making an outstanding contribution to their teams and the industry.
See the full list of Emerging Leaders here.
