Leslau backs de Savary’s Built-ID

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Former PiLabs cohort member Savannah de Savary has secured £1.1m investment for her discovery and collaboration tool IndustryHub.

The tool, which enables members to instantly identify the project teams behind properties and to showcase their work and collaborations to an international audience of potential clients, investors and jv partners, will be launched as Built-ID.

De Savary, who set up the tool in 2016, is now able to take it fully to market after securing investment from a range of backers in the US and UK including Nick Leslau, Nigel Wray and Sandy Gumm, and property technology venture capital group, Pi Labs.

Built-ID has signed up a number of firms from across the property spectrum, including CBRE, Capital & Counties, SOM, FARRELLS and Lipton Rogers. To date, the site has amassed over 19,000 developments listed across 110 countries.

■ FROM THE ARCHIVE: RISING STAR: Savannah de Savary

Leslau said: “Built-ID is the tool for literally anyone, whether property professional or someone looking to carry out a refurbishment, who has ever been wowed by an amazing building or some part of it and wanted to instantly discover who was involved in its creation and execution.

“I believe Built-ID has the potential to transform how people interact with the built environment. If you want to fit out the smallest shop, create the biggest office building or design the ultimate resort, Built-ID will save you enormous amounts of time, and with their extensive and continuing buildings database they will become the go-to platform for anyone interested in buildings and the people behind them.”

One of the most innovative elements of the technology is a forthcoming feature that acts as a Shazam for the built environment. By holding up their smartphone to a building, members can discover all the collaborators behind the project, from the entire professional team involved in the building’s creation, to the managing agents as well as the other projects the team have been involved in. Image recognition software can then pull up similar inspiration, exportable to private collaboration zones.

Built-ID chief executive de Savary, said:  “IndustryHub’s evolution into Built-ID marks a coming of age, as our member base continues to grow at an exponential rate ahead of our hard launch next month. What is significant is that our forthcoming features will make the platform far more than just a showcase of inspiring professionals: it will digitise and democratise word-of-mouth property industry insight.”

Nick-Leslau-2016Nick Leslau: my fast learning curve

“Savannah originally canvassed me directly about her business and soon introduced us to the super talented guys, who run PiLabs, which had incubated her own Built-ID business. My colleagues and I went on a fast learning curve as we started to fully comprehend the profound implications proptech development will have on our lives as investors and also for anyone engaged in the property industry, as a consumer or service provider. PiLabs is at the forefront of property-related technology companies seeing, investigating and analysing them and if the businesses pass their intense scrutiny, which is only some 3% of them, investing in and advising some of the very best in class.

“As a property investor  “dinosaur” it has become abundantly clear to me after too long of ignoring the changing winds just how radically technology will change and inform our decision-making  in the future and how better information more speedily accessed will result in significant competitive advantage. There is not a part of our industry proptech will not touch.

“I cannot “do” technology, but I can certainly embrace it and it didn’t take long for us to recognise that to be at the forefront of it we need to back the really talented young people who profoundly understand this incredibly exciting and evolving area and who invest in it, putting their own money where their mouths are. That is why we were delighted to agree to invest in PiLabs.”

Faisal Butt: the future of property management

Imagine rolling out of bed on a Sunday morning craving the strongest coffee money can buy. But there’s a stumbling block – the lift is broken, and you’re stranded on the 23d floor. You whip out your smartphone, and send a text. Pam replies “Oh no, poor you. Let me see how I can help…”  A few texts later, the problem is diagnosed, logged, reported, and on its way to being fixed. Pam is not your girlfriend, your mother, nor your building concierge. She is an artificial intelligence chat bot that serves as your building’s property manager.

In 2017, we will see AI spill over from consumer services into business services.  A recent study by Deloitte indicated that 64% of IT professionals will implement some form of cognitive services or AI in the next two years – a leading indicator pointing to what the near future holds for us.

The property management industry is positioned well to take advantage of these developments in communication and AI. In doing so, the industry stands to not only dramatically improve customer engagement, but also increase efficiency across all functions.

The rise of artificial intelligence in the offering of essential property services is likely to spark debate and controversy. But smart, progressive property managers with a real passion for delivering a superior service to the residents of a building will embrace AI, not shy away from it. 

Pam is neither the industry’s friend, nor its enemy. One thing I am certain about, however, is that she will push the entire industry to raise its old-world standards.  This is not likely to be an easy transformation, but it is one that the industry desperately needs.

Read more at www.egi.co.uk/news/techtalk

Faisal Butt is founder of PiLabs and Spire Ventures

To send feedback, e-mail Samantha.McClary@egi.co.uk or tweet @Samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette

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