US-based visual data-capture technology developer OpenSpace secured $14m on Tuesday in a series A round featuring workspace provider WeWork, general contractor Suffolk Construction and property developer Tishman Speyer.
Venture capital firm Lux Capital led the round, which also included JLL Spark, the corporate venturing arm of real estate services provider JLL, as well as VC fund Goldcrest Capital and VC firms Navitas Capital and Zigg Capital.
OpenSpace has created a system that combines artificial intelligence with small cameras that are mounted on the hardhats of construction workers to capture a 360-degree view of a building site, enabling contractors to track the progress of construction in depth.
Jeevan Kalanithi, OpenSpace’s co-founder and chief executive, said: “At OpenSpace, we are using AI to augment workers’ capabilities by making documentation fast, easy and complete.
“We started this company by collaborating with builders, on their job sites. We knew that any documentation solution needed to be totally passive in order to fit into the extremely busy day-to-day of a construction site, and this is what inspired us to create OpenSpace’s unique tap-and-go approach.”
Tishman Speyer invested having trialled the company’s system at two of its larger developments, and said it intends to expand the use of the technology across its business.
The cash will go to ramping up sales and marketing as part of a larger growth push, as OpenSpace also looks to enhance its computer vision products.
Lux Capital, GoldCrest Investments, National Science Foundation, Foundation Capital, Sterling Capital, Box Group, AngelList and Comet Labs had supplied seed funding for OpenSpace in August 2017, the same year it was founded.
