Clearstory | AI and Experience in a Better Built World
The beginning of fall in Boston is always charged with back to school energy. As the Ts and sidewalks fill up with returning students—and their unwieldy, textbook-laden backpacks—the leaves turn into a collegiate background fitting for a new school year.
Our team isn’t exactly returning from a summer break, but we are taking advantage of the invigorating fresh start that September offers. We are excited to share the latest installments in our series defining Building Ventures’s vision for a better built world. Mayra explains how technology, including AI, will improve not only projects and outcomes but the process of building in order to attract and retain talent. Lucas outlines how our buildings and cities must be designed, built, and operated to help people thrive—in health, wellbeing, and more.
And, while fall season might mean book lists and seminars for many of Boston’s newest residents, it’s conference season for the rest of us. Our team members have been in Toronto, Las Vegas, New York City, and Malmö, Sweden, over the last few weeks.
Below, as always, you’ll find updates from our portfolio companies. This time, we’re sharing our follow-on investment in Clearstory, Dandelion’s national expansion, Built Robotics’s feature in the NYT, and so much more.
– The BV Team
Investment Updates
Our Investment in Clearstory
We’re excited to share our recent follow-on investment in Clearstory, the change order communication tool improving trust and transparency for the construction industry. Learn more about the $16 million Series B deal and our investment rationale here.
Portfolio News
In the media
🏡 Dandelion announced two exciting business updates: the launch of the world’s most efficient geothermal pump, the Dandelion Geo, and the company’s nationwide expansion. Read the details.
♻️ 75F was selected in the Green Proving program, a collaboration between the US Department of Energy and the US General Services Administration install 17 emerging and sustainable technologies in federal buildings. Learn more here.
The New York Times featured Built Robotics in its deep dive on robotics in the solar industry. Read the piece here. 🤖
🐘 ⚡️ Elephant Energy’s DR Richardson spoke with The Clear Clean about bundling electrification, leveraging the IRA benefits, and more. Watch the replay.
Aeroseal’s VP of Policy and Market Developlemt Maggie McCarey joined the Climate Tech and Healthcare podcast. Listen here. 🎧
Commercial Observer featured Measurabl in its article on carbon-cutting. Read that here. 🌎
🏘️ Mosaic’s Salman Ahmad joined the Tangent podcast to talk about the company’s vision: construction as code. Listen to the conversation.
CEO Insights recognized Parspec’s Pratyush Havelia for his leadership expertise and strategic vision using AI to improve procurement. Read the profile here. 👏
🏆 Skillit was named a finalist in The SaaS Awards in the category of Best SaaS Product for the Construction Industry. See the whole list here.
UpCodes’s Garrett Reynolds published an opinion piece on code copyright in The Construction Broadsheet. Read that here. ✍️
On the move
At BuiltWorlds Toronto, SmartPM won the Maverick Award. 🏆
Measurabl, SmartPM, and Work & Mother attended Blueprint this week. 🏙️
📐 Hypar’s Ian Keough will be speaking at AEC Tech+ in LA. Find the event details here.
New products, people announcements, and more
🏗️ Join.build announced its new integration with the Autodesk Construction Cloud. Find out more.
Work & Mother opened its first Chicago location at Callahan Capital Group’s 110 North Wacker. 🎉
🛶 Canoa released a series of Canvas templates from interior designers for inspiration. Take a look at the templates from Kate Swanson of Fletcher Road or Christopher Cisneros of Invission Co.
Join Digital announced a successful deployment with Hitachi Solutions, through its partner Oprizon. 🙌 See more here.
enVerid published a breakdown of the latest updates to ASHRAE Standard 90.1. Take a look. 👩💻
Our portfolio companies are looking for team members in marketing, people operations, product, and more. Check out the 60+ open roles here. 👀
BV Activity
This summer, Allen served as a judge in the BuiltWorlds Paris Summit demo competition. Last week, Lucas was a demo day judge at BuiltWorlds Toronto.
Earlier this week, Travis was in Malmö, Sweden, for The Drop, Europe’s leading climate tech festival. Travis and Josh Felser of Climatic hosted a roundtable discussion on the building electrification, exploring the current state of climate tech and the critical innovations still needed to electrify, cost-effectively, from appliances to power management software to the grid.
Also this week, Heather and Lucas attended Blueprint, along with portfolio companies Measurabl, Work & Mother, and SmartPM. Heather hosted a panel discussion on data center construction with McCarthy Buildings Company’s Joe Cannon, McKinstry’s Steve Ruby, and Legence’s Jeffrey Sprau. Today, Lucas is moderating a panel on new sustainable construction tools with Adaptis’s Sheida Shahi, Dusty Robotics’s Tessa Lau, and Neutral’s Nate Helbach.
Heather’s panel at Blueprint. Shout out to Abbey Donnell of Work & Mother for the photo!
Building Ventures invests in companies that are reshaping the way we design, build, operate and experience our built environment. Do you know a founder we simply have to meet? Send them here!
