Navitas Capital

Some big news - WorkHero has raised a $5M seed round to help more small HVAC business owners succeed! This round is led by Navitas Capital with participation from York IE, Workshop Venture Partners, and several angels including a former executive from ServiceTitan. Small businesses in the skilled trades are the foundation of our economy. These are people that just want to make an honest living and help their communities. But running these businesses is really hard. One owner I talked to last week was over $1M in debt and was close to shutting down, despite doing 5 star Google Review quality work. WorkHero is proving that combining custom AI tools + industry experts is a powerful solution to these problems. To the extent we see AI in home services (and it's still early innings), the focus has been on large PE-backed companies. At WorkHero, we are building for the little guys. Come join us - we’re hiring for roles in engineering, product, marketing, and service operations. Thank you to Jenny Song, Mike Heller, Travis Putnam, Marshall Everson, Kyle York, Chad Laurans, Mike Berlin, Jason Carter and our other investors for believing in our mission. So much gratitude to my cofounder Kyler Evitt, our founding office manager Valeria Velázquez, and our whole team including John Kelsall, Lakshya Sukhralia, Stephanie Crow, Grant Hodges, Shannon Ukena Woolson, Jeremy I., Kelsey Cavazos, Leticia Amaya, and Brandon Arthur. Thank you to our chairman Gerald Chertavian for your support from the very beginning and to other key advisors including Andrew Blair, Ershad Jamil, Bryan Orr, Gary McCreadie, Jim Bergmann, and Bill Spohn, P.E.

Congrats, once again Vardhan Mehta on Acelab's Series A. For a deeper look into why we invested, see our blog post below! TLDR: Huge, complex category of work/spend with no existing systems of record, opaque information leading to friction and waste, many stakeholders with asymmetric information, and a new opportunity for AI disruption. Plus -- obviously -- a rockstar team. Can't wait for this next chapter! Credit to Mike Heller and Kevin Parker for their work and research across both this blog post and the investment. https://lnkd.in/dMdfehdY #constructiontech #contech #seriesA #acelab #materials #whyweinvested #vc #verticalAI #marketplaces

💫 ✨ tldr: CivCheck was acquired by Clariti! ✨ 🏗️ Building a company is hard. Building one that works as a business and creates real impact is even harder. When my cofounder Neha and I started CivCheck in 2023, our goal wasn’t just to make permitting faster. It was to make it work *better* for cities, for applicants, and for everyone who’s ever waited on a permit wondering what went wrong. We wanted to build software that serves our government partners as thoughtfully and carefully as they serve their communities. That vision and the people who believed in it - brought us here: CivCheck has officially joined forces with Clariti. 🎉 It’s been my privilege to serve as CEO of CivCheck for the past 2.5 years, and I’m so excited to continue alongside my incredible cofounder, Neha, and Clariti’s co-CEOs, Cyrus and Jake. Was it challenging? Absolutely. But it was also so much fun. Building with brilliant people, serving amazing city partners, and learning every day what it takes to bring AI to government ethically and responsibly — it’s been an incredible journey. A huge thank you to our investors, advisors, and families for believing in us from the start, and to our small but mighty CivCheck team, who poured their hearts into building something that truly matters. 🚀 Here’s to the next chapter — excited to make it the best one yet! 🚀 Allison Hyde Park Venture Partners GS Futures Sang Aaron Yaniv Lusana Four Acres Capital Navitas Capital Jenny Charlie Sam Jonathan Nate Gareth Taube Julia Richman Shaan Patel Helen He Casey Levy Ian Driscoll Archana Apte Aïssata Nützel, PE Keertan Gaurav Kumar Subha Vibhav https://lnkd.in/eKD-tiNi

We can now build the one-person $1B power development company. By leveraging AI and robotics we are seeing the emergence of "A flywheel of compounding infrastructure buildout... data centers that can build other data centers." (Sam Altman) A one-person company that moves 500MW/yr of project pipeline and generates ~$100M of development fees commanding a ~$1B valuation. After a number of technical breakthroughs Paces achieved this summer, we are now working with people doing exactly this. Developing data centers & power plants is really hard. At every step, there are interconnection & permitting bottlenecks and uncertainty. Each step is labor intensive and completed sequentially with a project failure rate of 80%. All of this is happening during a century-level demand surge. The current methods cannot meet the demand, and if we fail, the US will fall behind in the AI race. Fortunately AI has given us the tools needed to meet its own power needs. At Paces we have built power developer agents which leverages proprietary Data (power, permitting, etc), industry specific Tools and Orchestration (agents). Agents can operate across each project development stage: Siting → Interconnection → Permitting → Finance → Procurement. Add in the amazing advances in robotics from companies like Planted Solar or operational AI from the likes of Zeitview and the entire stack is becoming automatable: Development → Construction → Operations. The data, tools & orchestration needed for the one-person $1B power developer are in place and being deployed Paces now. What remains is fast iteration on any gaps & connecting agents with robotics. 100s of these companies will exist by 2030. If you want to build one, DM me. https://lnkd.in/eKxFk5rj

The rise of EliseAI is a case study of the Navitas model: Find and back amazing teams trying to solve core problems in massive industries, empower them through our network and industry connectivity, and double down with more capital when it starts working. That's how you create wins for everyone -- start-ups, the industry, and fund LPs -- and build a vertical AI giant. Our managing partner, Louis Schotsky, shares some fun details on the journey below. It's a must read for anyone innovating in our sector.

Join us at CREtech NYC for the exclusive “Founders and Funders” meeting space! Calling all investors/VCs in the real estate tech sector. Rub shoulders with industry leaders like Camber Creek, JLL Spark, Navitas Capital and more, connecting with top startups seeking capital. Here’s the rundown: Engage in up to eight 15-minute 1:1 sessions with curated startups on October 22nd, from 1:30–3:30 PM, during the conference. As a bonus, secure a complimentary All Access pass to CREtech New York event happening on October 21–22 at the Javits Center. Lindsey Imperatore Kyle Halls Interested? Complete this brief form to apply: https://lnkd.in/dK_apnaw

🌟 What does it take to be recognized as one of the most influential leaders in the #contech industry? 🌟 For our co-founder and CEO, Josh Levy, it’s vision, innovation, and relentless dedication. We’re thrilled to announce that Josh has been named an Engineering News-Record 2024 Top 25 Newsmaker! 🏆 This prestigious award honors his trailblazing work, where he’s transforming the way construction professionals tackle #contract review and project document compliance with the power of #AI. Josh, your passion and leadership inspire us every day. This honor is so well deserved, and we couldn’t be happier to celebrate this achievement! 👏👏 Check out the full article by Jeff Yoders to learn more about how Document Crunch is making waves in the #construction industry. 🚀 Special thanks to Jeff Brannen with Balfour Beatty US for his support! https://lnkd.in/edGexq_Q

🚨 Breaking: Silverstein Properties rolls out digital keys in Apple Wallet for their residential properties, but the two most interesting aspects are the player collaboration and the broader implementation this brings (IMO.) This signals a shift in how companies will work together, with our industry moving toward "seamless access control"—not just within a specific building but across Silverstein's offices, commercial spaces, and other properties. First, the players involved: SwiftConnect is the Credential Manager Allegion US is the Credential Provider Allegion is also the Locks Kastle Systems is the Physical Access Control System (PACS), readers, and integrator Apple brings their Wallet and phones/watches Like I did, you might wonder why they didn't just work with Kastle and Allegion alone. After all, Apple works with Allegion, and Allegion works with Kastle. In the past, that would have been enough for a single building with specific partners. The answer lies in addressing our industry fragmentation (even in a city / especially in a city like NY), improving operational efficiency, generating revenue, building a network, and enhancing the user experience - all the discussions we have within The Access Control Executive Brief (the going beyond locking, unlocking, and keeping bad people out. Value beyond putting a card in the phone and high fiving yourself for incrementally doing what we have been doing). Based on Silverstein's history and their previous press releases about Apple Wallet integration with SwiftConnect in their office spaces (from February 2022 - 7 World Trade Center office building), their strategy is to create a seamless network across their portfolio while providing an excellent user experience for tenants. For instance, per the 2022 press release, at 7 World Trade Center - an office building, they are using HID readers and HID Origo as the credential provider (and other PACs and probably locks, too), and now they can offer both residential and office tenants access to amenities and flex spaces across all their buildings. This setup allows them to combine hardware providers, credentials, and physical access control systems throughout their portfolio. They use middleware (an identity platform?) to connect everything—allowing simple tap-and-go access with a phone's NFC. Super interesting. And btw - I think news like this is good for #biometrics too. It’s great to see Kastle and Allegion collaborating with SwiftConnect. Even more importantly, Silverstein's embrace of these changes and technologies sets a clear statement on the experience tenants can expect that will encourage other companies to follow suit. Don’t believe me? Just look at how effectively ButterflyMX has leveraged the network effect in New York real estate. [press release in the comments] #accesscontrol #globalcommunity #security #securityindustry

"We now lead in our interactions with our customers and prospects with AI. We were very early, people are probably aware it used to be called MeetElise, it's now EliseAI. We were early investors, early adopters, really help shape that technology. That technology now handles 95% of our prospect interactions. And now we are taking that technology and using that throughout the customer journey." It was incredible to hear Benjamin Schall, CEO of AvalonBay Communities, highlighting the value of EliseAI on the Multifamily Market Forecast webcast with Willy Walker last week. AvalonBay's longstanding partnership with EliseAI, dating back to our company's early years, has been instrumental in driving our growth and success. We are privileged to collaborate with such an innovative and forward-thinking industry leader. We extend our sincere thanks to Ben and the entire AvalonBay team for their ongoing support and recognition! Watch the full webcast at the link below! ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/gMRKfrtC

🚪🔑Check out TechCrunch's article featuring SwiftConnect co-CEOs Chip Kruger and Matt Kopel. In the article, Kyle Wiggers dives into workplace access + our $37 million Series B funding announced this week: 💬With the advent of flexible workspaces, companies are increasingly adopting smartphone-based authentication to let employees enter and leave. In a recent poll, nearly two in five firms said they’re letting staff use their phones to access office buildings. The boon has benefited vendors like #SwiftConnect, which sells a platform for managing access to physical offices. Chip Kruger and Matt Kopel founded the company in 2020 after selling their previous company, Waltz, to WeWork in 2019.💬 📰 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eVy8kvuh Quadri Ventures | HID | Egis Capital Partners | Klingenstein Fields Advisors | Crow Holdings | JLL Spark | Navitas Capital | Tanzola Corp. | Spring Rock Capital #SwiftConnect #SeriesB #NFC #NFCWallet #AccessControl #CRE #Technology #StartUps #Funding #Enterprise #QuadriVentures #HID #ASSAABLOY #EgisCapitalPartners #KlingensteinFieldAdvisors #CrowHoldings #JLLSpark