Summer is a time for enjoying the outdoors (particularly if you are here in the Northeast), but during the last few months it has been impossible to ignore the extremes and consequences of our ever-warming planet. “A code red for humanity”: The UN Secretary General’s words could not have painted a starker picture in describing the conclusions of the latest IPCC report on the state of our singular and sole climate. From its beginning, the underlying purpose of Building Ventures has been to invest in and support entrepreneurs who are working for a better built world. That means a more resilient, equitable, and sustainable built environment for everyone. We’ve had the privilege of seeing hundreds of founding teams developing solutions to the built environment’s role in the climate emergency. From our vantage point, this isn’t new news.
What we see changing is the general market’s recognition that now is the time to adopt and deploy solutions that will address what we refer to as “The Built Environment’s 40% Problem and Opportunity.” The creation and operations of buildings consumes ~40% of global energy use, produces ~40% of greenhouse gasses, produces ~40% of landfill waste, and consumes ~40% of all raw materials. One of the elements we look for in selecting teams to work with is how their products can decrease these numbers and produce better outcomes with a lighter footprint. It was certainly one of the aspects that originally drew us to back Matt Ellis and his team in the company’s Seed round when we were first creating Building Ventures. As the saying goes, you can’t manage what you don’t measure, and for years Measurabl has been providing ESG analytics to the commercial real estate industry. We were delighted to continue supporting Measurabl and participate in its $50 million Series C to enable the team to pursue their mission to help decarbonize the world’s largest class. As you will read below, our team at Building Ventures, and much more importantly our portfolio companies, have embraced the challenge and have the opportunity to have a huge impact on delivering our better built world.
Investment Updates
Our Continued Investment in Measurabl
When we are considering investing in a startup, one of the most critical qualities we look for is a founder who is in love with the problem they are looking to solve. As Matt Ellis simply stated in the pitch deck he sent us more than four years ago, “Commercial buildings must measure, manage, and act on sustainability performance.” At the time, Matt and his small team had already been bootstrapping their vision for four years dedicated to that four letter word: must. Not can or should—must. What Matt saw was an inevitable future where the real estate industry would be held accountable for its ESG performance. In that, he saw the opportunity for Measurabl to become the platform enabling the industry to optimize its ESG performance.
We were thrilled to participate in Measurabl’s $50 million Series C, led by Energy Impact Partners! Read more about our continued investment and Measurable’s mission #ForABetterBuiltWorld here.
Portfolio News & Activity
🏆Blokable at Phoenix Rising Honored by Core77 Design, Fast Company, & the International Design Excellence Awards 🏆
Blokable at Phoenix Rising, the world’s first vertically integrated modular housing development, was named an honoree in the Design for Social Impact category in the Core77 Design Awards, an honoree in Fast Company’s 2021 Innovation by Design Awards, and a Gold Award Winner in the Environments category of the 2021 International Design Excellence Awards.
In the Press
🤖 National Geographic featured Built Robotics in the magazine’s recent article on the robot revolution—which National Geographic contends has already arrived.
enVerid announced a strategic partnership with Trane. The company will sell enVerid’s air purifiers as a part of Tran’e’s Wellsphere Indoor Environment Quality solutions portfolio. 🤝
Aeroseal and the energy-saving impact of its technology was featured in ACHR News. 🌱
⚡Hypar welcomed Meredith Dunn, experienced tech-driven startup leader who previously worked with Stitch Fix and Modsy, to its Board of Directors.
Smartvid.io has rebranded as Newmetrix. 🦺
Join.build announced an exciting integration with the Autodesk Construction Cloud. ☁️
🏡 Nexus PMG named Dandelion Energy on its list of exciting cleantech companies to watch this year.
75F announced an exciting investment from Siemens, bringing their latest funding round to $28 million. 🍾
Musings & More
Join Digital appeared on RealComm’s panel on the state of remote and hybrid work and the need for flexible, connected offices. 🖥
🎧 GoContractor’s John Naughton joined the SaaS Startup Stories podcast to talk jobsite safety, as well as share a sneak peak at the company’s product roadmap.
Josh Emig of Canoa on the future of work and distributed teams on the ONEder Grant Podcast. 🔮
🛠The Mosaic team is growing and looking for a product designer, senior product manager, and a partnerships associate, among other roles. Learn more here.
BV Team Updates
Earlier this week, Jesse joined Kaushal Diwan of DPR, Cutler Knupp of Dysruptek, and Atul Khanzode of DPR in a fireside chat about construction technology, industry innovations, the increasing urgency of sustainability, and more.
Next month, Heather will be attending CRETech and Blueprint, where she’ll be hosting office hours.
Travis joined Ty Findley on Heavy Hitters: The Digital Industrial Podcast. He spoke about Building Ventures’ focus on “sapling stage” companies, the opportunity in the AEC space, the significance of “constructuring,” and more. You can listen to the episode here.
This week, Allen is attending GreenBuild’s International Conference and Expo and participating in the San Diego Venture Group’s Annual Venture Summit.
Gregg recently served as a judge for the final round of the Industrial Grade Innovation 2021 Startup Battle. The battle came down to Hyperframe and Vertical, which won the competition.
