Reality Capture, AI & Analytics In Construction Technology with Jeevan Kalanithi and Parker Mundt

In the fifth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Jeevan Kalanithi, CEO at OpenSpace and Parker Mundt, Vice President of Platform at Suffolk Technologies.

Episode Highlights:

• OpenSpace’s founding story 
• How Jeevan and Parker initially met and started working together
• The concept behind Suffolk Technologies and the companies they invest into
• Open Space’s two products and the difference between them
• How OpenSpace overcame the challenges when scaling their products
• The broad challenges Parker sees startups facing with new products
• How product trends change based on geographical locations
• Parker’s investment predictions for 2023-24
• Current macro trends and what this will mean for those ready to innovate and be tech forward
• The firms involved in the Suffolk Boost Accelerator Program 
• Companies that are creating innovative solutions for sustainability
• What steps Open Space are taking to reduce the ‘eight waste’ on construction sites

Resources:

• LMRE Global Recruitment and Search Consultancy
• LMRE YouTube Interviews
• PropTech Salary Report, LMRE 2022
• Sifteo
• 3D Robotics
• Autodesk
• Suffolk Boost Accelerator Program
• Qflow
• Carbon Titles
• Shepherd Insurance

Shout outs:

• Brittany Harris
• Jade Cohen

Key Takeaways:

• They started a company and sold it, and sure enough, they were working on a capture technology with these new 360 cameras. When I heard about it, I was like, you know, who could really use this? Building. – Jeevan
• Suffolk has trialled over 180 different tech solutions. We pride ourselves in being a very forward thinking general contractor who has a deep desire to innovate within the construction space. – Parker
• We’re building more and more stuff upon that. It all works because we have a simple capture product and I think we’ve captured something like 12 billion square feet, some big number. So it’s a lot of data that allows us to make the system smarter and more useful for our customers. – Jeevan
• I think today we see a lot of companies that come in and maybe are naive or maybe just a bit out of touch with what some of the tech solutions in construction in particular would charge. And that can be a showstopper immediately, because the folks that you’re selling to are still very focused on price and schedule, right? Those are the two main drivers in the construction industry. – Parker
• For us we’re really focused on making sure that the founders feel comfortable at the valuation that they’re at and not necessarily pumping it up just for the sake of having a larger valuation. – Parker
• We’re at an innovate or die kind of portion of the life cycle right now where folks who are tech forward and are looking to see how they can do things better, faster, cheaper, safer, you know, those folks will emerge as the industry leaders, as a general contractor. – Parker
• We really prioritise reliability and speed and efficiency with our technology and we hope that allows our builder customers to do the same. – Jeevan

About our guests:

Jeevan Kalanithi:

Jeevan Kalanithi is the CEO and Co-Founder of OpenSpace, which provides next-generation 360° construction photo documentation software for builders. Prior to starting OpenSpace, Jeevan was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Lux Capital. He sold his first company, Sifteo, to 3D Robotics, where he eventually became the President. He holds a BS from Stanford and an MS from MIT, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow.

OpenSpace:

OpenSpace is the global leader of reality capture and AI-powered analytics for the construction and real estate industries. OpenSpace has simplified construction’s most powerful technology so builders can capture jobsites with unmatched speed, provide “boots on the ground” visibility and insights, and make informed decisions – all on the world’s most reliable platform. With OpenSpace, customers have captured more than eleven billion square feet of imagery from construction projects across thousands of sites in more than ninety-one countries. Follow us onLinkedIn.

Parker Mundt:

Parker Mundt is the Vice President of Platform at Suffolk Tech, working closely with promising startups to identify opportunities for operational engagement. In his role, Parker leverages his years of industry experience and network connections to support entrepreneurs in their product development and scaling efforts.  Parker also leads the Suffolk Boost program, an intense, highly selective 6-week program designed to help early stage, built world technology companies solve their biggest business problems. Prior to joining the Suffolk Tech team, Parker held Operations and Executive management roles at Suffolk, focused on standardizing operational excellence across the $4.5B construction business. Parker earned his bachelor’s degree in earth and oceanographic science from Bowdoin College.

Suffolk Technologies:

Suffolk Technologies is a leading built environment venture capital firm investing in startups transforming the construction and real estate sectors. We back early and growth-stage technology companies across the entire building lifecycle. With our broad network of job sites and industry partners, we accelerate new solutions to ecosystem-wide adoption. Since 2019, Suffolk Technologies has backed 24 companies across automation and robotics, supply chain marketplace, sustainability, financial technology, and smart building themes.

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

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