The New York City-based MetaProp Accelerator (which I’m pleased to note calls my alma mater Columbia University home!) has announced its 2017-18 class of real estate industry tech startups. Selected from hundreds of applications that the accelerator received from 25 countries, the 8 winners include a homegrown New York City construction industry startup called OnSiteIQ which is aiming to be the Google Streetview for construction project sites.
Calling itself “a progress documentation and safety analysis platform for developers, construction managers, safety consultants, and contractors,” the platform “leverages computer vision algorithms to automatically map 360-degree walkthrough videos to the floor plan and provide a seamless, remote progress, quality, and safety inspection capability.” It collects that walkthrough data from project sites monthly and provides users with the ability to flag issues as they pop up in the field and share them among key project team members in real time. Pretty neat!
OnSiteIQ is currently operating in private beta; it joins OnTarget, which was also the lone construction tech participant in MetaProp’s 2016 cohort. It’s also the second recent startup we’ve seen that is using visual data to provide increased visibility into construction site safety – similar in some ways to the Seattle-based startup Unearth, which we wrote about earlier this year here at AEC Labs.
Unearth, as you may recall, uses a combination of drones, remote sensors, and Internet of Things principles to centralize communications between field and home office personnel in order to keep teams on schedule and on budget by driving better, data-driven decision-making about projects.
In fact, at the time, we wrote here at AEC Labs that we “expect to see many more of these types of software platforms and solutions brought to market, soon, in a variety of different contexts.” So at least one of 2017 predictions about #constructech seems to be coming true!
But turning briefly back to MetaProp: the seven other startups that will join OnSiteIQ at Columbia as part of this year’s accelerator class are:
BlocPower: Technology platform that aims to make buildings and communities smarter, greener, and healthier. (Based in NYC).
Doorport: Next-generation building entry tool that’s “creating an end-to-end building management platform to provide the best residential living experience.” (NYC)
Hoozip: For real estate wholesalers and investors. (NYC).
Travtus: AI platform for property management and operations. (Singapore and London).
Irene: Provides home equity access for senior citizens, promises a debt-free alternative to reverse mortgages. (NYC).
Streamline: Location intelligence provider for the real estate industry, using machine learning to interpret large geospatial data sets. (San Francisco).
WeSmartPark: Mobile application that helps users find parking from Barcelona to Madrid to New York City. Calls itself the AirBnB for parking, but automatic. (Barcelona).
