The Autonomous Built Environment
If one word summed up the fall for Building Ventures it would have to be: Autonomy. It was the theme of our Building Ventures Innovators Network Summit as well as the driving force behind the newest additions to the portfolio. By enabling the machines we call Buildings and the machines we use to build them to see, decide and act on their own we can not only drive efficiencies and lower costs but create better overall experiences in the places we live, work and play. The irony, of course, is that to get to this autonomous future state we need incredible people to drive the innovation and develop the business models to take us there. We are thrilled to have added Noah Ready-Campbell and Deepinder Singh along with their tremendous teams to the Building Ventures portfolio family this fall. In his opening keynote of the Summit, Yale Professor of Architecture, Phil Bernstein reminded us that the purpose of the Built Environment is not the artifacts themselves but rather the places we need to provide the “outcomes” we desire. As he said, “Automation across AEC can drive outcome-based delivery models and a route to new value propositions”. In this season of giving and thankfulness, we are grateful to have partnered with so many incredible entrepreneurs who are delivering these new value propositions as we all work together “For A Better Built World”.
Read on for more details on how this has unfolded in the past few months.
Portfolio News:
Built Robotics Investment
In late September, we announced our Series B investment in Built Robotics, the leading developer of AI guidance systems transforming heavy equipment into autonomous robots.
Dandelion Energy on Ask This Old House
As big fans of all things This Old House, we were more than a little excited when Ask This Old House home technology expert Ross Trethewey traveled to Albany, New York to feature how portfolio company Dandelion makes geothermal heat affordable and practical for average homeowners.
Smartvid.io’s Predictive Analytics Council in Construction Dive
Josh Kanner, Founder/CEO of Smartvid & Tech Lead of the Predictive Analytics Council talks about the progress of the council to date. “Safety brings everyone together for a great end goal and also has additional benefits to each member as it helps them start to get a handle on their operational data as well as start to see what potential it has for safety and beyond.”
BV Events, Awards & Press
Fall gathering of the Building Ventures Innovators Network
Autonomy was the topic of the Fall Summit in Brooklyn, where over 100 leaders from across the built environment gathered to discuss the future of how we design, construct, operate and experience our buildings.
Travis employed self-driving cars as a reference to set up the day’s topic.
Phil Bernstein of Yale delivered a thought-provoking keynote.
Speakers from across the industry shared their visions of how autonomy will impact the future of the built environment.
Matt Gray, BuiltWorlds, and Jim Whalen, Boston Properties, led two panels analyzing the future of how we will build and how we will operate spaces.
Of course, plenty of conversation and fun was had by all.
Jesse joined portfolio companies Hypar, Join and Smartvid.io at Autodesk University
Heather & Travis attended and judged the startup competition at BuiltWorlds Venture West
Awards & Press:
Travis was named a finalist for Top Investor at the Global Prop Tech Awards.
TechCrunch surveyed Travis and other top investors on the latest trends in PropTech.
BV was named one of the Top 50 Investors in the built industry by BuiltWorlds.
