AMAVI is a fully-independent investment fund with a pan-European footprint. As the first property technology fund in the Benelux region, and one of a handful of investors focusing solely on PropTech scale-ups in Europe, it draws its limited partners (LPs) mainly from the worlds of real estate and construction, while the presence of two institutional investors reflects the confidence of the wider market.
In its first two years AMAVI actively screened more than 750 companies and made nine investments throughout Europe. AMAVI will now expand itsportfolio to around 15 investments in innovative PropTech companies.
AMAVI knows what it takes to disrupt the largest asset class in the world: smart investment in promising scale-ups with a proven product-market fit, with an eye to the consolidation potential in a fragmented and emerging PropTech landscape.
Bridging the old and the new
An enormous gap has opened between old-school real estate and construction and the emerging PropTech movement. New technologies demand skills that the traditional industry may not possess, or are in short supply.
AMAVI bridges that gap. Its unique investor profile gives it expert insights, access to deal flow, and a distribution channel for the companies it invests in, and is mirrored in the expertise of its founders, who have backgrounds in real estate, private equity, and technology.
Over the past two years, the effects of Covid, stricter sustainability regulations, supply chain issues and inflation have all created tailwinds behind the PropTech industry. Our timing couldnât be better.
Arne Allewaert
Fixing the pain points
In formulating the AMAVI Capital vision, Arne Allewaert and Frederic Van den Weghe identified the key challenges that are driving the PropTech sector forward and are likely to become even more relevant in the future.
AMAVI is leveraging European real estate expertise and capital to build an ecosystem that tackles these problems head-on.
Whatâs next
AMAVI is helping to grow and create the real estate sector of the future. It will soon be moving into new offices in Ghent (Belgium), and recently welcomed an additional investment analyst to the team. Arno Janssens joined in early June and will be pro-actively researching and mapping PropTech solutions that solve current pain points, are gaining traction, and are scalable.
To find out more about AMAVI Capital and its investment strategy, please contact us at hello@amavi.capital .
Construction and real estate accounts for an astonishing 38% of all global CO2 emissions. Itâs barely digitised at all, and productivity has been declining for half a century. Technology canât fix all these pain points overnight, but every PropTech company in our portfolio is making a significant difference.
AMAVI is proud to announce its 8th fund investment: looking at the daily newspaper headlines on drought and waterscarcity, Hydraloopoffers an urgently needed solution for a water sustainable world! The company has developed a decentralized âgrey waterâ recycling system. This easy-to-use home appliance treats shower and bath water to be re-used in toilets, washing machines and for garden irrigation. The solution allows a reduction of up to 45% of scarce drinking water, without compromising on any comfort!
Itâs patented technology was elected âBest of the Bestâ, âBest Startupâ, âBest of Innovationâ and âBest Sustainable Productâ at the CES 2020 trade fair in Las Vegas and is currently being sold globally through a network of 140 sales, distribution and service partners.
AMAVI Capital has led the 4,5m EUR investment round, with co-investments from The Future of Water Fund and crowdfunding through the Crowdcube platform.
We are thrilled to announce the addition of Arno Janssens to the AMAVI team as an Analyst. Arno brings a wealth of experience in the fast-paced analysis of investment opportunities and decision-making, having previously worked in the business development team at property developer ION. In this role, Arno helped the team fully allocate the commitments from IONâs second development fund towards different development opportunities across the Benelux in just two years.
Arno holds a Masterâs degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Ghent (2013-2018), followed by a Master in General Management from Vlerick Business School (2018-2019), where different consultancy projects were undertaken, among others, for Katoen Natie in Houston, US.
In his new role at AMAVI, Arno will evaluate investment opportunities. His critical thinking skills, experience and his appetite for knowledge will be a great asset to the team. We are excited to have him on board and look forward to the contributions he will make in his new role.
LEKO LABSâs sustainably-sourced wood-based building materials solution able to replace up to 75% of concrete and steel used in a single building, dramatically reducing carbon footprint during construction
Wall system is highly insulating and can reduce heating and cooling needs by up to 87% whilst creating more commercially available floor space due to thinner wall requirements
New funding will be used to accelerate roll-out of LEKO LABSâs advanced software and robotics construction solution to supply finished walls across Europe
Total funding now sits at $23m
Luxembourg, 22nd February 2022. LEKO LABS, the Luxembourg based carbon negative construction company, today announces a $21 million Series A funding round.
The investment is led by urban sustainability-focused fund 2150 with participation from the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Tencent, AMAVI, Rise PropTech Fund, Extantia and Freigeist. The total footprint of real estate developed, built or managed by LEKO LABSâs new investor base totals approximately 500 million sq ft., which corresponds to an area the size of Manhattan.
Former Lilium CCO Dr. Remo Gerber also joins the company as CEO, with current CEO and founder Francois Cordier reverting to the CTO role with the focus of furthering its groundbreaking sustainable building materials, robotics and software development.
LEKO LABS has developed a novel wall and floor system based entirely on wood and wood fibre, which is capable of replacing up 75% of concrete and steel currently used in constructing a single building. In incorporating engineered wood and a fully circular manufacturing process, the system provides not only a sustainable approach to building but superior insulation properties with thinner walls, enabling up to 10% more floor space for a given building.
The technology can be used for buildings up to 100m tall and multiple developments are in completion to date in its Benelux home market, from homes to office buildings, data-centres and beyond. The wall system is also highly insulating and can reduce heating and cooling needs of a building by up to 87% compared to today’s standards, whilst potentially enabling buildings to remain carbon neutral over their entire lifetime.
LEKO LABSâs software platform calculates and optimises thermal, acoustic and static properties of the buildings, resolving moisture and noise problems typically associated with wooden buildings. Its algorithm optimizes each building reducing wood usage vs traditional builds by up to 50%, making best use of the precious natural resource.
By introducing an automotive style, robotics driven approach to the manufacturing of buildings, more can be delivered in much shorter time and at higher quality in comparison to traditional construction approaches. This benefits not only construction companies but also workers able to perform their duties in a safe and clean environment.
The Series A funding is one of the most substantial capital raises in the sustainable building sector in Europe, an area for a long time underfunded by venture capital investments. This is especially important considering 39% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from housing with one third of that from raw materials production of concrete and steel and two thirds from heating and cooling our buildings. The new funding will enable LEKO LABS to scale its advanced software and robotics construction solution throughout Europe including Germany, the Nordics and the UK, supplying finished walls from its factory in Luxembourg.
Francois Cordier, CTO and Founder at LEKO LABS: âIâm delighted to welcome Remo as our new CEO and our new investors to help deliver our vision towards a more sustainable building sector. Together we have a strong shot on the goal of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions in 2040 by 1% using the LEKO LABS advanced building technology. His experience in scaling companies and capitalising them will be instrumental for the success of the company.â
Dr. Remo Gerber, CEO at LEKO LABS: âI could not be more excited to join the journey with Francois and the entire LEKO LABS team, itâs such an important and critical mission. We are making a difference today, each of our walls saves several tons of CO2 here and now. By scaling up our solution with automotive robotics we will achieve global impact in the coming years.â
The investor group was led by urban sustainability technology VC fund 2150, who closed their first $310 million fund in October 2021. The fundâs mission is to invest in technologies addressing the planet’s most pressing climate change problems, and they have in particular identified the built environment as a key challenge.
Christian Hernandez, co-founder at 2150 said: âThe LEKO LABS team is on an important mission to help decarbonise the built environment with a fundamentally different and scalable approach. We are delighted to partner with LEKO LABS bringing our climate tech and strong European property investor basis to play and help adoption of a groundbreaking new approach.â
LEKO LABSâs 5L walls are commercially attractive to build with, and when combined with inbuilt insulation can reduce wall thickness by up to 40%, creating more property floor space. Furthermore, usage of the solution can enable total building times to be shrunk by up to 50%, reducing noise and waste at construction sites to a minimum. Thus, overall building with LEKO LABSâs system is close to carbon neutral with a commercially superior solution.
The system of LEKO LABS can be applied in most building settings from single family homes, to apartment or office buildings and industrial warehouses or data centers. It is a commercially attractive solution with one of the lowest carbon footprints possible from the moment the building is completed and throughout the lifetime with low heating and cooling emissions. So future residents can sleep in peace knowing they built sustainable and corporate organisations have a real solution to help achieve their Net Zero goals.
About LEKO LABS:
LEKO LABS S.A. was founded by Francois Cordier in 2017 with a vision to accelerate the adoption of sustainable building materials in the built environment. It has grown to over 30 FTE in Luxembourg and has recently opened a subsidiary in Switzerland and will soon open an office in London. It has developed a groundbreaking wood composite structure capable of replacing concrete bearing walls in any type of building up to 100m tall. Buildings are delivered today in its home BENELUX market, saving thousands of tons of CO2 and expansion is planned across Europe in 2022.
Cintoo receives funding to accelerate growth from AMAVI Capital, Armilar Venture Partners, Accenture Ventures, UI Investissement and Region Sud Investissement
Cintoo has today announced a Series A investment of 5.3 million ⏠($6 million) from five international investors – AMAVI Capital, Armilar Venture Partners, Accenture Ventures, UI Investissement and Region Sud Investissement.
Cintooâs SaaS platform, Cintoo Cloud, leverages Reality Data in the cloud and is at the convergence of Reality Capture and Digital Twins. Reality Capture devices, such as laser scanners or drones, are frequently used to capture the as-built conditions of a physical space, such as a building construction area, a factory or a plant, so that teams working on retrofit, construction or simulation projects can do their design or control work remotely without needing to visit the space. However, making such gigantic Reality Capture data accessible to stakeholders via the cloud has always been a challenge. Cintooâs multimodal, hardware agnostic platform is the response to this challenge. Cintoo Cloud uses a unique, patent-pending, core point cloud-to-mesh engine, and interconnects with BIM and Digital Twin platforms to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds. Accurate data of buildings, factories, plants, or any other industrial asset, becomes accessible and easily interpretable, by experts and non-experts alike, from a simple web browser from anywhere at any time, using Cintooâs 3D mesh streaming technology.
With approximately three billion square feet of laser scan data uploaded so far, spanning 4,000 projects, Cintoo Cloud is currently being used by more than 20,000 users in BIM, construction and Industry 4.0 organizations across the US, Canada, Europe and Australasia as a unique source of trustful Reality Data to better manage and collaborate on both brownfield and greenfield projects, saving significant resources, time and money.
The investment will be used to expand Cintoo Cloud’s capabilities to meet the needs of Industry 4.0 and BIM and construction customers, developing next generation features for asset management, progress monitoring and industrial metaverse exploration. This investment will also help Cintoo further expand its business in North America, Europe and APAC.
The Series A funding was co-led by AMAVI Capital and Armilar Venture Partners, and counted with a participation from Accenture Ventures, as well as from Cintoo’s prior Investors, UI Investissement and Region Sud Investissement, who continue to support the business.
Dominique Pouliquen, Cintoo’s CEO, explained: “Our mission is to become the world leader in cloud-based solutions to empower Reality Data on-demand and we’ve made significant in-roads since we launched Cintoo Cloud in 2018.
âWeâre very happy to bring AMAVI, Armilar and Accenture Ventures on board. Securing this investment from top European and US VCs, together with the continuous support from UI Investissement and Region Sud Investissement, is testament to the strength of the platform, our team’s industry experience, our technical expertise and our vision for Cintoo. With this funding and support, we can quickly start to turn this vision into reality.”
Pedro Ribeiro Santos, Partner at Armilar Venture Partners commented: âAs much as cloud computing keeps bringing innovation and openness to many industries, there are a few areas in which it has been more challenging to benefit from it, particularly in applications that need to handle huge amounts of data in real time while offering smooth user experiences. 3D Reality Data is one of those areas, that has stayed ripe for disruption until now. Cintooâs technology, the result of years of R&D, makes it possible, making the data accessible to anyone and opening the doors to new uses of that data â and making Cintoo an excellent fit for Armilarâs TechTransfer Fund.â
About Cintoo Cintoo is a French and US startup, established in 2013 to find a solution for managing terabytes of Reality Capture data in the cloud for Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Industry 4.0 businesses. The company launched its SaaS platform, Cintoo Cloud, in 2018, which uses its patent-pending, core point cloud-to-mesh engine to stream huge 3D data using any PC, laptop or tablet with a web browser. Email contact@cintoo.com or visit www.cintoo.com
About AMAVI Capital AMAVI PropTech Fund is a pan-European investment fund established to support growth of the leading and most promising companies active in the PropTech industry. AMAVI aims to create a bridge between the traditional real estate and construction industry and the most groundbreaking European PropTech companies, by leveraging its combined expertise and network from the real estate, technology and private equity industry. For more information, please visit https://amavi.capital/
About Armilar Venture Partners Armilar Venture Partners is Portugal’s leading VC funds manager. An independent VC with a history of more than 20 years, a high-performance track record and an international footprint, Armilar is a deep-tech investor, with a focus on early-stage technology-based companies where data, digitisation and connectivity play a central role. For more information, please visit www.armilar.com. The Armilar Venture Partners TechTransfer Fund is supported by InnovFin Equity, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) set up under the Investment Plan for Europe. The purpose of EFSI is to help support financing and implementing productive investments in the European Union and to ensure increased access to financing. The fund is also co-financed by Fundo de Capital e Quase Capital (FC&QC), managed by Banco PortuguĂȘs de Fomento, S.A.
About Accenture Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services â all powered by the worldâs largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 674,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at accenture.com
About UI Investissement UI Investissement is an independent Private Equity firm specializing in the development of unlisted French companies. For over 50 years, UI has been committed to work alongside managers and leaders of growing start-ups, SMEs and medium-sized companies (ETIs) to create and develop economically successful companies in the long term. UI Investissement manages nearly âŹ1.5 billion in assets and had invested with more than 300 business managers in essential sectors such as healthcare, agribusiness, business services and industry. Growth and Buyout capital, the historical core of UI’s activity, represents more than two-thirds of the AUM and its more than fifty companies in our portfolio that can rely on UI’s operational expertise and methodological tools. The management teams and investment vehicles dedicated to venture capital and distressed investments support companies throughout their life cycle and contribute to the economic dynamism. Today, UI has more than 70 professionals and 13 regional offices across France. Visit www.ui-investissement.co
Last week, we were honored to welcome Laurens Vanryckeghem as Investment Manager to the team!
Laurens brings a wealth of experience from the PropTech and real estate space. He previously initiated the real estate practice within KPMG Belgium and as the Real Estate Sector Lead, he consequently specialized in real estate technologies and innovation.
YouStock was born out of a simple observation: the self-storage market has many issues, including inadequate pricing, but also logistical constraints. YouStock resolves them with a solution based on two key principles:
Reasonable and fair prices. Thanks to an algorithm that calculates the volume of storage required, YouStock can offer a surface area that meets its customersâ needs and can thus offer rates that are up to 40% cheaper than traditional self-storage.
Simple, customised organisation of storage. Thanks to an online solution, YouStock allows its customers to directly manage the organisation of storage from start to finish: the YouStock team pick up the items from your home, and you can manage your personal items directly yourself. The YouStock solution allows you to have the desired items delivered back to your home within 48 hours thanks to an online inventory using QR codes.
Conquering the digitalisation of self-storage on a European scale
This capital raising is happening at a crucial time for YouStockâs development. Despite the context of last year, YouStock achieved impressive growth and now has over 1200 active customers, representing a 90% increase compared to 2020. The success of its launch in Paris during the lockdown also confirmed the relevance of its strategy. The inflation of the price per square metre in cities has considerably reduced habitable floor area, obliging many people to find new solutions for storing their personal belongings.
The startup wants to take advantage of this new funding round to speed up its development, with the integration of automation processes for delivery and storage. YouStock is also aiming for national and international expansion, for example by opening a branch in Lyon in early 2022 as well as a location in a European capital. These ambitious projects are in line with the objective of its founders: becoming the European leader in urban self-storage within 4 years.
âOur success in Paris, Monaco and Nice confirms the relevance of a service like YouStock in big cities.By offering city dwellers the fairest, simplest, and most affordable model, we aspire to quickly become a key player.This raising of capital offers a real opportunity for us to gain a foothold throughout France over the next few months.âAlexis Bouresche, CEO YouStock
âEver since its launch, weâve been impressed by the digital platform developed by the YouStock team, as well as the growth theyâve generated. Supporting YouStock in their ambitions to grow in France and in Europe is perfectly in line with the PropTech focus of our investment strategy. YouStock revolutionises the way you can manage your belongings on demand, short or longer term, and at a very competitive rate. All on an intuitive digital platform.âFrederic Van den Weghe, Managing Partner AMAVI Capital
About YouStock
In order to make up for the lack of services offered by self-storage and furniture storage brands, two old friends, Alexis Bouresche and Jacopo Marzocco, decided to focus on the concept of âstorage on demandâ. YouStock was founded in 2015. It experienced rapid growth, allowing it to raise capital for the first time in 2017. Pierre Charvet joined the company in the same year as Associate COO, in order to structure the geographical and strategic development of the company. Today, YouStock operates on the CĂŽte-d’Azur, in Monaco, Paris and the greater Paris region. Tomorrow, Europe!
About AMAVI Capital
AMAVI Capital is one of the first PropTech investors and one of the rare investors to focus solely on this segment in Europe. AMAVI is a fully independent investment vehicle with a European network, created to support the growth of the leading and most promising businesses in the PropTech sector. The main defining feature of AMAVI Capital is its in-depth knowledge of the real-estate sector.
