DivcoWest Ventures

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!

We are thrilled to see Phoebe Zhang, a member of the DivcoWest Ventures team, featured in the latest Emerging Venture Capitalists Association (EVCA) newsletter. Congratulations!

Excited that DivcoWest Ventures’s Breton Birkhofer is part of the Center for Real Estate Technology & Innovation's Housing Council along with proptech thought leaders Paige Pitcher, Aaron Ru, Peter Weiss, Elie Finegold, and Nish Patel! This council is dedicated to exploring emerging trends and challenges in housing, including affordability, design innovation, and sustainable development, to envision and influence the future landscape of residential living spaces. If you're building in this space, we would love to chat!

We are thrilled to announce our latest investment in Field Materials to support Eldar Sadikov, Victor Gane, and their team on their mission to solve the inefficiencies in the materials procurement process for the construction industry. Their AI-enabled software seamlessly digitizes the procurement process, enabling subcontractors and self-performing GCs to manage material costs with more visibility and less effort. We are confident that this stellar team will continue to innovate and lead the way to a more automated supply chain! #contech #construction #procurement

Congrats to Andrew C. Lindsey, Robert Mazer, and their team on recently announcing FLEXNODE's groundbreaking edge data center at the International Telecoms Week (ITW) - a techoraco brand! We are excited to be an investor in FLEXNODE's seed round, a leading-edge infrastructure company. We look forward to supporting its mission to transform edge computing with its state-of-the-art data center solution, which delivers flexibility, scalability, and efficiency for businesses navigating dynamic and distributed environments. #datacenter #digitalinfrastructure #internationaltelecomsweeks

Great blog post from Miles Kirkpatrick at SITE Technologies. We are excited to be working with SITE as an investor and customer because we believe they represent a paradigm shift in facilities maintenance. Legacy "boots on the ground" assessments are often subjective, but SITE's AI software empowers facilities managers to make consistently smarter decisions, faster and cheaper. 

Great blog post from Miles Kirkpatrick at SITE Technologies. We are excited to be working with SITE as an investor and customer because we believe they represent a paradigm shift in facilities maintenance. Legacy "boots on the ground" assessments are often subjective, but SITE's AI software empowers facilities managers to make consistently smarter decisions, faster and cheaper.