JLL Spark and venture capitalist A/O PropTech have invested in earthquake monitoring business Safehub.
The pair, along with Hannover Digital Investors, have contributed to a $9m (£6.5m) series A fundraising by the San Francisco-based company, which builds sensors and analytics software to deliver real-time, building-specific earthquake damage information.
Existing investors in the business include Fusion Fund, Ubiquity Ventures, Promus Ventures, Bolt, Blackhorn Ventures, Maschmeyer Group Ventures and Team Builder Ventures also contributed to the round.
Safehub claims to have built the world’s first internet of things-based analytics platform to reduce business interruption losses from catastrophic events for enterprise customers by remotely monitoring structural damage. It uses a combination of proprietary sensors, analytics and third-party data to provide real-time, building-specific structural damage information, with an initial focus on earthquakes.
Andy Thompson, co-founder and chief executive of Safehub, said: “Never before have businesses had this level of information at their fingertips, allowing them to quickly assess damage resulting from catastrophic events, often on the other side of the world. Our vision is to use IoT building sensors and advanced data analytics to provide real-time risk insight for all global commercial buildings, for multiple hazards. We are transforming the entire risk ecosystem, including emergency response, business continuity, structural engineering and insurance.”
Gregory Dewerpe, founder of A/O Proptech, added: “As Covid-19 and Suez have demonstrated, supply chain and business interruption can have catastrophic effects on our economies and businesses. Extreme weather and natural-disaster-related interruptions have the potential to be just as devastating to companies around the world, regardless of their location. In a globalised world, having real-time access to valuable data and insights has become critical to understand, assess and make fast-paced decisions impacting lives, costs and operations. Technologies that enable businesses to better evaluate building structural performance in real time have become critical, not just to mitigate the economic impact of extreme weather, but for response to the wider climate crisis.”
JLL Spark vice president David Gerster said that Safehub’s technology-based approach to business continuity provided a cost-effective solution, is easy to install across an entire portfolio of buildings and could dramatically reduce the risk of business interruption from a seismic event.
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