The Propcast: The Evolution Of Global Construction Technologies

The Evolution Of Global Construction Technologies

Mar 7, 2023

In the fourth episode of Season 11 of the Propcast, host Louisa Dickins is joined by Antonia Soler, Director of Hilti Technology Office at Hilti and Vivin Hegde, GB and Founding Partner at Zacua Ventures, an early stage global VC specialised in investing in the Built Environment sector.

Episode Highlights:

How Antonia and Vivin both met whilst working at Hilti
The Women in Construction Tech Group that Antonia has co-founded
The events and chapters WCT are running
How Zacua Ventures started and where the idea came from
Vivin’s advice to founders looking to scale towards an exit
The evolution Vivin believes early startups need to go through in order to be successful
The challenges around digitising construction and how Antonia suggests these are addressed
The importance of understanding what it’s actually like to work in construction when trying to build a solution
Where Antonia and Vivin expect to see investment being made in 2023
The difference in investments between early stage and late stage
The reasons why interest in Series B is quieter in terms of investment
How construction technologies are helping with sustainability
The technologies being developed to address prefabrication and modular construction

Resources:

Shout outs:

Key Takeaways:

And this is where the seeds of Zacua Ventures were sewn, right? We had built a network, we'd seen how hard corporate innovation is for a lot of corporates, and we are also invested in funds. - Vivin
So a startup needs to be mindful of the exit options that they have. They shouldn't be driven by the exit itself. - Vivin
I find that founders that spend a lot of time with customers in the field and in the office come up with the best solutions. Because they are observing workflows, testing solutions on the job site and otherwise learning how their solution can best serve their customers. - Antonia
So women in construction tech, it's dedicated to creating opportunities and developing relationships for women driving innovation in the construction industry. We envision a construction industry where women are well networked, support each other, efforts to improve and advance in the space and otherwise. - Antonia
We did a survey of 80 contact focused VCs and corporate VCs a couple of weeks back. Just a little bit of the industry, I would say, and it's positive. We do see more investment happening in this space. Pretty much 70% of the VCs we spoke to said they're going to increase their investment rather than decrease in this space. - Vivin
I think everybody has a good view of how the market could look in the next 6, 12, 18 months. Even if it's not rosy, it's still more predictable than it was five months back. And therefore the deal flow should pick up slowly and the deal making should also pick up accordingly. - Vivin

About Our Host

Louisa Dickins

Louisa is the co-founder of LMRE, which has rapidly become the market leading global PropTech recruitment platform and search consultancy with operations across North America, United Kingdom, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

To promote the industry she is so passionate about, Louisa set up the Global podcast ‘The Propcast’ where she hosts and invites guests from the built environment space to join her in conversation about innovation.

About LMRE

LMRE is globally recognised for leading the way in Real Estate Tech & Innovation talent management.

From the outset our vision was to become a global provider of the very best strategic talent to the most innovative organisations in PropTech, ConTech, Smart Buildings, ESG, Sustainability and Strategic Consulting.

At LMRE we are fully committed at all times to exceed the expectations of our candidates and clients by providing the very best advice and by unlocking exclusive opportunities across our global network in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.