ConTech investments alone rose from USD 3B in 2017 to USD 6B in 2018 and was forecasted to reach USD 8B in 2019. The current COVID-19 pandemic is affecting every link of the value chain from design, to supply, operations and maintenance. How will it impact startups and venture investment which ultimately depend on the ability to adopt new solutions on the job site and in the drawing room?
Ray Levitt (Blackhorn Ventures) and Darren Bechtel (Brick & Mortar Ventures) are two of the investors most involved in the development of Construction Tech in the United States.
Ray Levitt joined Blackhorn Ventures as an Operating Partner in 2017. Blackhorn invests in Seed, A and B Rounds of startups with defensible breakthrough technologies that can dramatically enhance resource efficiency in the built environment, transportation/logistics and energy sectors of the real economy. Ray leads Blackhorn’s Built Environment investments.
Civil Engineering undergraduate degree from U. of Witwatersrand in South Africa. MS and PhD in Construction Management from Stanford University.
Prior to joining Blackhorn, worked five years on the civil engineering faculty at MIT and then moved to Stanford. Retired from Stanford in 2017 as Kumagai Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Emeritus after co-leading the “Digital Cities” initiative in Stanford’s Global Projects Center with Adjunct Professor Mike Steep. Past research, teaching, executive education and consulting has focused on organization design for projects and project-based companies, entrepreneurship, and governance arrangements for private-public partnerships to develop infrastructure in developing and developed countries.
Co-founded three software startups in the Built Environment sector: as CEO and Chairman of Vité Corporation, and as Non-Executive Chairman of Design Power, Inc. and Rackwise. President of Stanford’s “Farmers” angel investor group.
