OpenSpace, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), now provides full 360 degree photo representations of physical space, greatly benefiting the construction and real estate industries. Using a small camera attached to a builder’s hardhat, entire worksites are passively mapped and uploaded to the cloud for a visual representation similar to Google Street View. All of this is improving productivity and accomplished without disturbing project workers.
Now with a $14 million Series A funding round, led by Lux Capital, OpenSpace is ready to expand the use of their patent pending construction site data capture technology, pursuing adoption by some of the largest infrastructure and real estate development firms. The platform enables construction sites to be reviewed in days, weeks and even years prior via virtual tours.
“OpenSpace makes it incredibly easy to walk a job site, gather detailed imagery and automatically generate a 360° view that’s pinned to the floor plan,” said JLL Spark Vice President David Gerster in a press statement. “What used to be a complex, laborious task is now a simple and elegant user experience. This investment is part of our broader commitment to transforming commercial real estate with new technology.”
Some of this additional funding is going towards new computer vision-powered products able to leverage the ever-growing dataset created. With existing products consumers have already digitized over 150 million square feet of data, or 50 Empire State Buildings and counting. This tremendous amount is due in part to ease-of-use, as OpenSpace needs no special training and works with off-the-shelf 360 degree cameras.
Investors in this round included a returning Goldcrest Capital, along with new participation from Zigg Capital, WeWork, Tishman Speyer, Suffolk Construction, Navitas Capital, and JLL Spark. Jenny Wong, Tishman Speyer Managing Director, sees value in scaling OpenSpace’s program broadly, adding that, “Access to accurate, immediate data is essential in the development and building process, and we are excited to be partnering with OpenSpace.”
