Mavericks 2021: Honoring Raymond Levitt, Operating Partner, Blackhorn Ventures

We nominated Raymond Levitt to this year’s BuiltWorlds Mavericks List in the Investor Category because, along with his partners at Blackhorn Ventures, he has become one of the most prolific investors in Built Environment startups. Levitt and his team at Blackhorn Venture, where he is the operating partner, have made at least twenty investments in an impressive array of  “built environment” startups, including Agorus, ALICE, briq, ClimateAI, CoFi, Drawboard, Dwellsy, Foresight, FutureProof, Hive Technologies, Humatics, Hyperframe, Manufacton, Modulous, Near Space Labs, Pype, QuoteToMe, Safehub, safesite, Toggle, Ultra High Materials, and Veerum.

More Than An Investor, A Pioneering Technologist and Entrepreneur

Being a prolific investor in the sector, though, wasn’t the only reason for the nomination. Like so many other Mavericks, Ray Levitt could probably have been nominated in multiple categories in addition to the investor category. His credentials in the Entrepreneur and Technologist Categories are deep and impressive. A true pioneer in tech in the industry, way back in 1996, at the dawn of the industry’s internet-based technology boom, he co-founded and served as chairman and ceo of Vite Coporation, leveraging an early version of simulation technology to help predict and manage project risks. He actually traces his work on the technology back to the mid-eighties.

Educating and Influencing a New Generation

Beyond those categories, his contributions as a faculty member of more than forty years at Stanford University, place him squarely in the Educators & Influencers category as well. Perhaps not surprisingly, Stanford University’s engineering and business school programs have turned out at least as many influential leaders in the industry’s technology boom as any other institution we have identified. With notable alumni including, Brick & Mortar Managing Partner, Darren Bechtel, Vinci’s Leonard Accelerator head, Guillaume Bazouin, ALICE Technologies Founder Rene Morkos and many others, it is hard to overstate the university’s influence on a whole generation of the industry’s entrepreneurs and technologists. Levitt has served many roles at the University in his tenure, including Academic Director of Stanford’s Advanced Project Management Program and Director of its Global Projects Center.  As such, he is one of a handful of pioneering academics who have been working to modernize curriculum and approach at our major learning institutions around the world, another critical ingredient in bringing about the whole industry’s digital transformation.

So, officially recognized in his current seat as a leading investor, we are also honored to welcome Professor Ray Levitt to our Inaugural Awards dinner at this year’s BuiltWorlds Summit and to recognize him among his peers, globally, for the difficult and immensely important work he has done to help move the massive Built World sector into the 21st century.