Scaling up sustainable construction materials: Pi Labs’ investment in Tangible
We are happy to share that we have invested in Tangible’s $3 million seed round, which was led by Foundamental, along with Fifty Years, Redstone, Asymmetric and Deco Ventures.
Background to our investment
Building materials and construction are responsible for 11% of greenhouse gas emissions globally — more than flights or fashion — yet it is often the industry which receives the least media attention. This excludes any operational emissions needed to run these buildings, which would bring the total even higher to a staggering 39% share of greenhouse gases.
It is therefore no surprise that the industry faces a huge challenge to decarbonise. Macro tailwinds include the UN Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, which sets decarbonisation targets for real estate asset managers, and the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard. Stateside, in Tangible’s home market, drivers are equally at play with the State of California passing a Buy Clean Bill for a 20% reduction in embodied carbon for all new major building projects by 2030, and the State of Colorado’s legislation on the global warming impact of materials allowed for public buildings.
Yet this is not just a B2B real estate problem; consumers increasingly care about the health and sustainability credentials of where they live too. Perhaps unsurprising given, on average, we spend ~90% of our time in buildings. As Tangible’s CEO and Co-Founder Anneli puts it, building materials really are an ‘ubiquitous, invisible consumer product’. To this point, buildings that can credibly market themselves as sustainable and healthy have what is known within the industry as a ‘green premium’ of up to 25%, making the incentives two-fold; financial and regulatory.
Tangible is solving this problem through its software platform for sustainable building materials; making it easy for players across the real estate value chain to discover climate-friendly materials and report back on their goals tangibly and at scale.
How the investment came about
We were first introduced to the founders, Anneli and Nicole, via angel investor Akhil Paul, who has invested alongside us in a number of our portfolio companies, such as Carta and Airly. The founders are based between San Francisco and New York, with Tangible representing the third US investment from Pi Labs’ Fund III to date.
The investment fits squarely into our investment thesis on ‘how we build’ and the urgent need to futureproof our towns and cities through better design and more sustainable construction.
🤝 Source of intro: Introduction from an Angel investor in our network
An overview of the company
Industry — Construction Tech / Sustainability
Location — San Francisco, USA
Founded — December 2021
Problem — No all-in-one platform for real estate professionals to easily discover low-carbon materials and report back on the footprint of their building projects.
Solution — Tangible makes it simple for anyone in the real estate ecosystem to choose and manage sustainable materials using their software platform, so that owners can make good on their climate goals.
Why we invested
Anneli (CEO) and Nicole (COO) bring together deep sector expertise and complementary skillsets from both sides of the table. Having initially met during their undergraduate degrees at Harvard, Anneli went on to work at a real estate sustainability consultancy, launching their US operations, while Nicole worked as Sustainability Manager for a flooring manufacturer. Here Nicole led their embodied carbon, waste, water, and social goals across their North American, European and Asian operations, with a focus on decarbonising supply chains. Their ability to sell their vision and attract likeminded talent is evident in the calibre of their first few hires who bring relevant experience across Meta, WeWork, Shopify and Xaxis.
Another piece that struck us about Tangible is the way they’re thinking about the UX of the platform; bringing a consumer-like experience to a B2B industry where existing software is dated and complex to navigate. Without user-friendly software, sustainability decisions are limited to technical, subject-matter specialists only, often creating siloed workflows. Through its easy-to-use, intuitive interface, Tangible is simplifying this opaque process by making it accessible to everyone — and in doing so, widening stakeholder engagement. This is crucial to reach the big vision of accelerating sustainable construction. Tangible’s Head of Engineering brings with him ~5 years’ experience at Shopify; a further nod to the consumer-friendly approach they’re taking.
Lastly, we are convinced not only of the need but the potential demand. The built world is the most valuable asset class globally yet remains relatively undigitized compared to other sectors (see table on the right). Discovering building materials, modelling carbon emissions and sharing information back with developers remains fragmented across an ad hoc suite of tools, including Excel and CRM databases.
What’s next
Tangible has raised this round to continue to hire a stellar team, develop its design-led product and grow its sales pipeline as it gears up for launch.
We’re excited to be joining Anneli and Nicole on this next leg of the journey and to back them on this crucial mission, making the climate impact of buildings tangible. We can’t wait to see what comes next!
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