Globally active investment manager Hazelview Investments has made its third investment in an early-stage PropTech company in a first-round financing of Toronto-based Augmenta, as part of its drive to invest in clean building technology companies spearheaded by it Hazelview Ventures subsidiary.
Augmenta focuses on reducing waste, increasing sustainability and improving efficiency through automation as early as the construction design stage.
As the first of several modules, Augmenta has developed an automated design tool for electrical engineers and contractors that creates fully constructible, code-compliant designs for the installation of electrical lines. Called the Augmenta Construction Platform, it is designed to reduce lead times, costs and risks, and ensure that materials are not wasted.
According to Claudia Reich Floyd, who heads up Hazelview Investments' Germany office in Hamburg, there are plenty of opportunities for automation in the construction industry. "The industry currently faces many challenges, such as manual scheduling, which has a high margin of error, imposes risks as well as costs on contractors, and is incredibly wasteful.
"Our partnership with Augmenta underlines Hazelview's commitment to finding innovative solutions to improve efficiency and sustainability in the sector."
The funding will be used to accelerate the development of the Augmenta Construction Platform; launch a pilot program for the Electrical System Design (ESD) module and scale the business units.
In what is to be the first of several design modules, Augmenta has developed an automated design tool for electrical engineers and contractors that generates fully constructible, code-compliant designs of electrical raceway routing. The platform will reduce turn-around times, cost, risk and will ensure materials are not wasted.
Hazelview (previously known as Timbercreek Investment Management) employs a global investment and asset management team of more than 80 people across its offices in Toronto, New York, Hong Kong and Hamburg and manages Can$ 11.6 billion (about €8.5 billion as of 30 April 2022) in real estate assets.
