In March’s newsletter we said, “Progress often feels slow, and in times like these can feel futile, and yet we must not let our urgency to deliver a better future wane.” Talk about an understatement. Instead of the usual spring feelings of growth and renewal, the last few months have been beset by an air of reluctance and retrenchment all across the investment landscape. Almost every day has seen another VC missive on battening down the hatches and planning for the worst. And while we live within the same market realities as everyone else, we prefer to focus on how our portfolio companies can deliver real value for their customers and overall impact for the built environment.
It’s almost cliche to say at this point that the best companies are born in times of adversity. But, as is often the case with cliches, it happens to be true. We believe this market provides a terrific opportunity for great companies to recruit amazing people and strengthen their market position and product offerings. As you will see below, we are enthusiastically deploying capital into new and existing portfolio companies, and they in turn are making acquisitions of companies and people. (There are over 100 open positions on the Building Ventures job board right now!)
At Building Ventures, we are very excited about what the summer will bring and are making our own moves to expand and strengthen our team, starting with the promotion of Heather to partner (see more below). The days are longer now, which is terrific because we have much to accomplish in the months ahead in order to deliver a better built world.
-Travis & the BV Team
Investment Updates
Our Investment in Extracker
Extracker Founder & CEO Cameron Page and his team are creating financial transparency in commercial construction with their collaborative platform for change orders. Read more.
Our Continued Investment in Canoa
We’re thrilled to continue partnering with Fed Negro and the Canoa team as they advance their mission to decarbonize the workplace with their design platform and embedded furniture marketplace. Read more.
Our Continued Investment in Built Robotics
We joined Built Robotics’ Series C led by Tiger Global. We’re proud to continue supporting Built as the company works to make construction machinery more efficient and more sustainable. Read more.
Measurabl acquired Hatch Data🍾
Measurabl acquired real estate decarbonization platform Hatch Data to expand their own platform to offer real-time, building-level insights, and more. Learn more here.
In the Press
🏆 Blokable was named an honorable mention in Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards. Read more about the award here.
Earlier this week, 75F launched its latest product the Helio Node to offer both IAQ sensing and equipment control in one efficient device. Learn more here. 🌱
🚗 Startus Insights named Envoy a top-five mobility startup. Check out the list.
🌎 Aeroseal has been featured in “Solving for Zero: The Search for Climate Innovation,” a series based on Bill Gates’ best-selling book on climate. The series is available on Wondrium. More from Aeroseal here.
Faculty Executive profiled enVerid CEO Christian Weeks. Read the article. ♻️
Animated Insights Founder and CEO Luther Garcia spoke at the IOT World Solutions Congress in Barcelona. 🏢
🏘 Mosaic welcomed Daryn Strop to the team as Regional Director of Operations to oversee the company expansion to the Denver market. Check out the news.
Join.build brought on Elina Combs as the team’s Head of Marketing. 👏
Musings & More
🍾 Dandelion celebrated 5 years since its launch. In the time, the company has installed over 1000 geothermal heat pumps which will eliminate more than 265,000 tons of CO2 emissions over the next 25 years. More here.
🦺 Newmetrix Founder and CEO Josh Kanner joined StructionSite’s podcast to talk about predictive models for reducing safety risks. Listen here.
Hypar’s Andrew Heumann spoke about the evolution of computational design with the Practice Disrupted podcast. Listen to the episode here. 🎧
Our portfolio companies are hiring! Check out job openings in sales, marketing, and more here. 👀
BV Team Updates
Heather promoted to partner!
Heather’s commitment to mentoring our portfolio companies, supporting innovation in the built environment, and fostering diversity in our industry speaks to our mission here at Building Ventures. We’re thrilled to share that Heather has been promoted to partner. Read the official announcement here.
Travis delivered the closing address at CREtech Climate in Copenhagen, which assembled the world’s leadings sustainability professions committed to decarbonizing the real estate industry. Travis also wrote about sustainability as it relates to Building Ventures Read the investment thesis here.
Today, Jesse is at NYBC’s Ascend 2022 conference. He’s speaking on the panel “The Technology Defining How We Build,” moderated by Jim Barrett of Turner Construction.
Last week, Allen joined BVIN member Rose Hall at the AXA XL Innovator’s Circle Hybrid Event.
Heather recently attended the All Raise Summit and the BuiltWorlds Buildings conference, where she spoke served as a judge for the Demo Day competition and spoke on the smart building technology and go-to-market planning panel with Jason Blumburg of Energy Foundry. Andrew Phipps of Cushman & Wakefield moderated.
Gregg spoke with the Signatory Wall and Ceiling Contractors Association’s Innovation & Technology Committee. In April, he also attended the Advancing Prefabrication conference.
We were so excited to see so many of you in San Francisco for our BVIN Spring Summit! We had a fantastic time tackling the built environment innovation imperative touching a range of topics across the design, build, operate and experience lifecycle, and we’re looking forward to our BVIN Fall Summit in Boston.
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!
