DivcoWest Ventures

Construction tech stole the show at this year's SF Tech Week, with 3 events highlighting innovation in the industry! As construction starts continues to grow and the labor gap widens, more contractors are looking to adopt technology. This year's events were a testament to how far the construction tech industry has come.   The ventures team had a blast attending: ➤"𝐀𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧" with panelists Mayra Soto (Building Ventures), Jeevan Kalanithi (OpenSpace), Forest Flager (Parspec) and Sarah Buchner (Trunk Tools) ➤"𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡", hosted by Brick & Mortar Ventures with panelists Darren Bechtel (Brick & Mortar Ventures), Claire Wilson (Siteline), Kevin Albert (Canvas), Kevin Soohoo (Egnyte), and Nitin Bhandari (Planera, Inc) ➤"𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧", hosted by Antonia Elisa Soler Blasco (Hilti Venture), Vivin Hegde (Zacua Ventures), and Viviane André (Construction Venture by Bouygues Construction)   It's fantastic to see so much excitement around construction - we are actively investing in this space and would love to chat if you are building, investing in, or using construction technology! #constructiontech #contech #innovation #sftechweek

The DivcoWest Ventures team had a wonderful time attending the Counter V conference, and learning from our 500+ peers in corporate venture capital. With CVCs participating in ~1/4 of all venture rounds, Corporate Venture Capital continues to play a large role in the venture ecosystem!   The Counterpart event boasted some great highlights, including: ● Fireside chat with Cathy Engelbert (WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association)) & Pau Gasol ● AI application for enterprises with Andrew Ferguson (Databricks 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀) & Sagi Paz (AMD 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀) ● How CVCs have grown over time with Promod Haque (Norwest Venture Partners) and Nagraj Kashyap (Touring Capital) ● A signed copy of "The Venture Mindset" by Ilya Strebulaev and Alex Dang!   Thank you to the Counterpart Ventures team - Patrick Eggen, Mikey Kailis, Tanvi Narain, and Abbie Wolf - for putting on a terrific event. It is always great to connect and collaborate with our peers across the industry, and we are looking forward to the event next year!

AI is transforming the construction industry! 🏗️🤖 Our team member Phoebe Zhang recently participated in a thought-provoking panel discussion on AI in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) at the leading industry conference #TorontoSummit2024 by BuiltWorlds, alongside Daniel Barbeau, Eng., M.Eng from Canam, Francesco Iorio from Augmenta, and Rishi Midha from EllisDon. Key topics explored: • Harnessing AI to generate tangible value • Prioritizing business outcomes over trend-chasing • Navigating organizational change in the AI era • Showcasing real-world AI use cases in AEC It's inspiring to witness AI's growing impact on the construction industry. All panelists shared enthusiasm for how AI will continue to shape innovation in our field! #AIinConstruction #AEC #InnovationInConstruction #ConstructionTech #BuiltWorlds #Toronto

It was so great to co-host such an awesome event with Munich Re Ventures and Nine Four Ventures. Thanks all for coming out!

We're excited to announce that our portfolio company, VergeSense, has released the next generation of its Occupancy Intelligence Platform, which aggregates siloed building data and leverages AI-powered insights to enable faster, more confident workplace decision-making.   VergeSense will now combine data from WiFi, sensors, space booking systems, and other existing building systems into a single platform, giving occupancy planners, space designers, and facilities directors powerful occupancy intelligence. For more information on VergeSense's Next-gen platform, please see the company press release here --> https://lnkd.in/eTZx6VCM

Our portfolio company VergeSense is organizing The Occupancy Intelligence Summit on Tuesday, September 17th for workplace leaders to network with each other and learn about leveraging occupancy intelligence technology to support workplace planning. For more information on this 2-hour virtual event, please see the event here: https://lnkd.in/gKJYmkTN

Breton Birkhofer will be attending the Blueprint: The Future of Real Estate conference in Vegas and participating as the Judge at the Early Stage Startup Showcase on Tuesday, September 17th. If you are planning on going, please join us at the session! Check out more information on the Blueprint 2024 Early Stage Startup Showcase here: https://lnkd.in/gMv7W5Nf

Excited to share that Phoebe Zhang will speak at the upcoming BuiltWorlds Toronto Summit to talk about AI use cases in the AEC industry, alongside Francesco Iorio from Augmenta, Daniel Barbeau, Eng., M.Eng from Canam, and Rishi Midha from EllisDon. Join us as we explore the future of innovation in AEC. Don't miss this opportunity to connect with industry leaders and explore new collaborations. More info about the event: https://lnkd.in/eCuX2Gzf #DivcoWestVentures #BuiltWorlds #TorontoSummit #ConstructionTech #AI

Congrats to Minna Song, Stoyan (Tony) Stoyanov and the EliseAI team on closing their Series D. Elise has continued to deliver highly valuable automation solutions in housing and is now tackling big challenges in another critical industry, healthcare. We are thrilled to support them on the journey.

There has been a lot of talk about AI transforming real estate and construction. So, what exactly does it mean? 🤔 Below is our take. Use cases of AI where we see meaningful near-term impact in the built world: 𝟭. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: AI tools that automate building design and model generation have the potential to significantly reduce costs related to preconstruction and rework 𝟮. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: AI-driven procurement systems can minimize material waste and enhance project visibility. Our portfolio company, Field Materials, uses AI to digitize procurement processes, enabling contractors to manage their supply chain with more visibility and less effort 𝟯. 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: AI applications that streamline tenant communication can accelerate leasing and improve tenant satisfaction. Our portfolio company, EliseAI, is a conversational AI assistant that empowers property managers to automate more tasks for their teams, leading to higher prospect conversion and resident engagement  𝟰. 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: AI can assist with property acquisitions by abstracting deal information, consolidating market intelligence, and generating financial models and investment memos, helping to evaluate deals more efficiently and reduce diligence expenses 𝟱. 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲: AI can inform asset-level decisions based on comprehensive data analysis (e.g., occupancy and market conditions), optimizing asset management and maintenance strategies. Our portfolio company, VergeSense, uses occupancy data to drive workplace recommendations, informing design and footprint decisions What differentiates AI solutions in the built world that will scale? 𝟭. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘀: Models that leverage proprietary, industry-specific datasets produce more accurate and relevant outputs for real estate use cases compared to generic AI tools. Precision in the built world is vital for outputs like floorplans, structural designs or legal documents 𝟮. 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀: Incumbent systems hold a lot of power in the real estate industry (e.g., Procore in construction or Yardi in property management), so seamless integration with them can reduce friction to adoption, create new distribution channels, and enable automation of workflows 𝟯. 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀: Innovators can leverage AI to automate entire workstreams, replacing traditional services with AI-enabled services that are more efficient. For example, a general contractor can outsource design work to an AI-enabled architect that can autogenerate designs at a fraction of the cost If you're building or investing in AI solutions for the built world, we'd love to chat!