Versatile Series-A

This is the Versatile pitch deck to raise a $20m series-a round in 2020.

About

VERSATILE uses machine learning and AI to optimize construction processes. It captures and analyzes data points to deliver real-time insights on job site performance and streamline decision-making. Mounted under the hook of any crane, this first-of-its-kind technology offers unparalleled production data on any job site including information on materials, redundancies, construction progress, and crane utilization.

It was founded in 2016 and headquartered in Los Altos, California.

When the pandemic hit, Versatile, like many other startups, took a hiring freeze.

CEO and cofounder Meirav Oren told Insider that the hiring freeze was her “biggest regret” of this year, as the company, and construction tech as a whole, saw a major boost in business. Contractors that may have been hesitant to adopt digital tools before now had to rely on them to get work done.

“The people we serve have accelerated their interest in tech because of the sheer notion that change is needed just to assist with the new challenges,” Oren said.

The company uses a crane-mounted camera to surveil a whole worksite, capturing and analyzing data about how long each process takes. the numbers and locations of on-site materials, and overall progress on the job site. That data can then be used to streamline processes, prevent redundant work, and improve job site safety.

Oren said the idea is to treat construction like manufacturing and break each process down into its constituent parts to make it more efficient and safe.

“Construction is truly manufacturing, and job sites are factories but haven’t undergone the same change as other manufacturing industries,” Oren said.

The pandemic was a major boost for Versatile, as the company’s ability to track work progress remotely became more important than ever during lockdown. Oren said the company decided to raise a $12 million to $15 million round to meet demand, but ended up closing on a $20 million Series A because investor demand was so high.

The $20 million round was led by Insight Partners, Silicon Valley giants who’ve invested in Workforce, Twitter, and Shopify, among others. It also included funding from Leigh Jasper and Robert Phillpot, the founders of Aconex, a construction tech company that was bought by Oracle in 2017 for $1.19 billion, Entree Capital, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Root Ventures, and Conductive Ventures.

The company had previously raised $8.5 million in funding since being founded in 2016. It is the second construction tech company Oren has founded, after a short run with a company called Valorisys. Oren started her career at Intel, and told Insider that she was the “black sheep” of her family, because of her family’s extensive construction background.

Versatile was founded after a conversation Oren had with her brother, a contractor, following the death of a worker at one of his worksites from a fall off scaffolding. This is common in the industry, which accounted for about 20% of worker fatalities in private industry in 2019, according to OSHA.

By extracting data from a worksite, and analyzing it as if it were a manufacturing floor, Oren said that eventually, processes can be completed much more quickly and much more safely.

“When you have an extra minute, it changes the sequence of events,” Oren said. “That’s where technology plays a role.”

Oren walked us through the pitch deck the company used to raise its most recent round, which includes an addendum specifically about the company’s response to the coronavirus.

Funding rounds

Pitch deck review summary

Slide by slide review

Deck Collection

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