A Digital Toolbox to Manage Construction Finance: Why We Invested in Built

The global construction industry generates over $10 trillion annually, employs 5% of the U.S. workforce, and is mission-critical to global GDP. That said, the industry lacks basic digital infrastructure and has remained largely unchanged over the last 100 years, resulting in significant operational inefficiencies.

While dissecting this industry, our north star has been that 70% of construction projects are delayed and 85% of projects delivered over budget. We made our first investment behind this problem statement in 2018 when partnering with BuildingConnected, the leading cloud-based software system for bid management. Since then, we have continued searching for leading entrepreneurs building transformative companies that reduce friction and streamline the construction process for the many stakeholders involved.

At Brookfield, one of the largest owners, operators, and developers of real estate, with a development pipeline of over $10 billion, we know the pain points associated with the hyper fragmentation of stakeholders and complicated workflows within construction. These breaking points in data continuity create siloed information sets locked in disparate systems.

Enter Built Technologies.

Led by Chase Gilbert and a team of seasoned industry professionals, Built’s platform powers smarter construction finance by streamlining the movement of information and money while eliminating siloed systems and error-prone manual processes. Built’s platform is designed to manage risk, maximize productivity, and drive stakeholder collaboration, thereby unifying the lender, developer, and contractor.

Lenders need a modern solution for construction finance

Built’s flagship platform automates manual workflows associated with construction lending and centralizes critical loan information to ensure compliance, power faster draws, and eliminate friction in the customer journey. Beyond inspiring customer loyalty by offering an intuitive collaboration portal, Built’s platform empowers lenders to operate more efficiently by increasing administrative capacity by 3x while reducing report preparation time by 80% and draw turn-around time by 70%. Built’s value proposition is ringing true with the industry — today, they work with the nation’s leading construction lenders and manage over $135 billion of construction spend.

Developers and contractors need greater project transparency, and a platform to manage finances

Built unified the construction ecosystem by providing a platform for developers to track projects and manage the cumbersome process of construction finance. Thousands of contractors within the Built ecosystem use the platform to improve financial planning, manage compliance tracking, automate AR/AP, and provide the analytics to make data-informed decisions. Contractors using Built receive lien waivers 15 days faster, which leads to quicker draws, faster payments, and the ability to meet project deadlines.

Building the infrastructure for the future of construction

Brookfield Technology Partners is thrilled to announce our investment in Built. We are grateful to partner with Chase and the Built team in the next chapter of growth and to be working alongside our new co-investors TCV, 9Yards Capital, XYZ Venture Capital, HighSage Ventures, and existing investors Addition, Index Ventures, Canapi Ventures, GreenPoint Partners, Nine Four Ventures, Fifth Wall, Goldman Sachs, and Nyca Partners among other individual investors. Built — thank you for welcoming us into your family; we are excited to support you in becoming the de facto solution to power construction finance!