The Built Environment Bulletin with Kanan Ajmera, Builders Patch

Welcome to ‘The Built Environment Bulletin’, with Tabitha Francis, our Q&A focused on the PropTech and Built Environment space.

Our Q&A series is an opportunity for our Head of PropTech, Tabitha Francis, to discuss all things Built Environment, Start-ups, and Career with different founders from across the region. Each week we will ask Built Environment innovators burning questions and quiz them about their products. We hope you find it insightful and enjoy getting to know the founders as much as we have.

This week we have been in touch with Kanan Ajmera, Founder & CEO of Builders Patch.

Builders Patch is a SaaS solution for commercial real estate lenders and developers. The platform streamlines the financing process for developing and preserving multifamily and affordable housing. Builders Patch is built for loan officers’ unique and complex workflows and is underpinned by a robust AI-driven underwriting and analytics engine for both sides of the transaction.

How did you find yourself in the Built Environment sector?

I am trained as an architect, so have been fascinated with working in this space since my early 20s. I have also worked as a housing developer, focusing on multifamily housing development. . I transitioned from development into the financing sector within the affordable housing industry in the US. During this time, I observed significant inefficiencies in securing financing and closing deals, prompting me to step away from a corporate banking job to establish Builders Patch..

What was the mission when you set out to create the business, and what is unique about your business compared to competitors?

Our mission has always been to create more multifamily housing quickly and efficiently, using data-driven decision-making. In the financing sector, many operations treat each deal as unique, without leveraging previous data. Our goal was to halve the underwriting time, which typically ranges from 90 to 120 days, in the affordable housing space  it can take up to six months sometimes to line up the state and city driven funding.. We aimed to simplify this process, make it transparent, and data-driven. Our platform is designed to handle any kind of housing deal, equity, debt, or loan transactions, using AI and machine learning to streamline workflows and close deals efficiently and most uniquely it is a two-sided system – works for the developer and lending source.

What are some of the challenges you have faced within the Built Environment sector given the macro-climate?

We have developed a holistic solution for multifamily housing, particularly focusing on the affordable segment, which comprises about 20% of the multifamily sector. Our platform is versatile, catering to Housing Finance Agencies, equity syndicators, debt syndicators, banks, and mortgage lenders. We also work with developers, providing them a single source of truth for their multiple applications and loan packages. Despite the challenges posed by interest rates and market fluctuations, affordable housing remains a constant need, and we continue to grow and adapt to these changes.

Congratulations on securing funding! What advice would you give to other startups looking for new capital in this challenging landscape?

Having conviction in your product and building strong relationships with early customers who can advocate for you is crucial. Attracting the right VCs and stakeholders who see the value in your platform is definitely a plus. Staying frugal and managing your burn rate effectively makes your company more attractive to investors. Even in a hesitant market, providing strong, solution-driven products backed by credible leaders will always hold up.

With this capital secured, what does the road ahead look like for the company? What are your growth plans, and how will you deploy this cash?

Our focus will be on marketing, sales, and brand building. We aim to establish repeatable processes across multiple sales channels and continuously innovate on our product. Keeping up with advancements in AI and other technologies is vital, ensuring we offer the best solutions to our clients. We plan to remain at the forefront of technological changes, providing immediate, attractive solutions to a rapidly evolving market.

What are your predictions for the last quarter of 2024 and beyond?

There will always be a need for multifamily housing, and we anticipate continued growth in the multifamily sector. .

The willingness to adopt new systems is growing, driven by the tech transformation accelerated since the pandemic.. The folks who are thinking about building utilizing pre-fabrication techniques, 3D printing, utilizing green energy, all very fundamental to bringing in brand new paradigms.

AI’s role in PropTech is becoming more significant, and staying ahead in technology is crucial to all the players to be competitive.

Trends in multifamily housing will focus on rent and retention, incorporating new technologies to enhance these aspects. Financing and utilizing AI driven models to underwrite, close transactions is the fastest moving sector.

So lots of things to be excited about when you think about problems to solve in the Proptech, Fintech and construction tech.