Investing in the Smart City with Building Venture’s Jesse Devitte

At the time of his talk at our spring 2018 Venture Conference, we introduced Jesse Devitte as a co-founder of Borealis Ventures and a member of the firm’s Built Environment Investment Team, but his career in building and investing in businesses in the built environment spans back to the early 90s. From companies like Softdesk, TinkerCad, and SketchUp to more recent exits like Fieldlens, acquired by WeWork, Honest Buildings, acquired by Procore Technologies, Assemble, acquired by Autodesk, Newforma, acquired by Battery Ventures, and other investments in groundbreaking solutions like Smartvid.io, 75F, Join, Blokable, Inc., Hypar, and Measurabl, Jesse Devitte‘s career investing in Built World Companies spans 30 years and encompasses a the full life cycle of buildings and infrastructure. From smart cities through design, construction, and operations. He is a true pioneer in the field.

During our first-annual Chicago Venture conference in the spring of 2018, he took the time to give us a great historical overview of investment in the sector and to speak on the the myriad of possibilities surrounding investing in the pilot smart cities underway and under construction now…and the hype associated with them, as well. He also helped make the point (at the heart of Built Worlds own name), that there is great value to be unlocked by loooking across the full life cycle of the built environment, from city and building planning through design, construction, and into maintenance and operations. His investment in everything from energy management and planning tools to smart jobsites robotics and AI plays to buildings management and maintenance business reflects this philosophy, and recent movements by the industry’s largest tech players to serve this whole spectrum of buildings and infrastructure needs, helps validate the thesis.

As a note, shortly after this conference, Jesse announced the new name for his Built Environment-focused investment management group  – BuildingVentures – reflecting the group’s commitment to the sector.

Learn mor about Jesse Devitte and other leaders in the field of Built World Venture by joining us at our Venture Conference December 2nd and 3rd. Visit our Venture Conference Landing Pages for more info.