Dive Brief:
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Architizer’s online building products specifying platform, Source, has garnered new investment from architects including Bjarke Ingels and Jurgen Mayer H, according to Dezeen. The company did not disclose the value of the investment.
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Launched in 2016, Source has received pledges from New York architecture firm WORKac, developer Ironstate and con-tech startup Katerra, among others. More than 100 firms have used Source, including Chicago-based Studio Gang and FXFowle, in Washington, DC.
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Pro users can search Source to find and compare products and their prices as well as communicate with manufacturers.
Dive Insight:
The once-static materials library in the office of an architecture firm or construction company has a growing digital component, and that’s posing a challenge as far as how to best organize and share product information.
Firms like HOK and HKS, for instance, keep plenty of physical samples on-hand to help their designers specify products, according to Architect. But what’s stored onsite is often limited to the type of vendor relationships a firm has and what their in-house materials librarians and specifiers can find. To scout new materials and systems, designers typically look to the web — Designer Pages Pro, Source and product blogs, among other sources.
Architizer’s Source takes a digital approach to the need for architects and other pros to stay up to date on materials. And it’s gaining traction among its target user base.
Last year, Architizer snagged $7 million in Series A financing for Source with funders including SHoP Architects. The funding announcement followed a 10-firm pilot in the summer of 2015, during which the product was used to make $50 million in product deals.
The latest successful financing round puts Architizer among the ranks of other AEC technology startups to earn investor interest. In April, offsite construction startup Katerra raised $130 million in Series C funding to push its valuation to $1 billion. Fellow startup "unicorn" Procore reached its $1 billion valuation in December after raising $50 million for its software services, doubling its worth from the year-earlier period.
