Archistar has come from Down Under to Big D to begin its U.S. expansion—with a goal of offering real estate developers “faster, smarter land acquisition.”
The startup says it helps developers “find, assess, and acquire sites 30 times faster than traditional methods” through its platform and embedded productivity tools.
Its all-in-one platform, which launched in 2018, overlays comprehensive property data, risk information, and development regulations on a “highly visual” interface.
Raised $11M in June, rolled into Dallas last fall
David Hunt, head of international at Archistar, and Eric Fink, founder and CEO of Snaploader, at the Dallas Builders Association earlier this fall. [Photo: LinkedIn]
In June, Sydney-based Archistar raised $11 million in its latest funding round, with participation from NAB Ventures, Skip Capital, Skyfield, Airtree, and private investors.
To bolster its U.S. expansion plan, the startup also made its first acquisition—snapping up Snaploader, which offers interactive 3D experiences for real estate “to simplify the selling and marketing process.”
“We’re very excited by the new technology we are building and having the support from strategic investors helps us continue to scale our world-first technology internationally,” Archistar Founder and CEO Dr. Benjamin Coorey said in a statement in June.
David Hunt, head of international at Archistar, and Eric Fink, founder and CEO of Snaploader, flew to Dallas in the fall to prep for the U.S. expansion. The two visited the Dallas Builders Association offices in Plano after Archistar became an association member.
Archistar said it aims to follow its Dallas launch with expansion into Florida, California, North Carolina, Arizona, and Virginia “in the coming year or so,” as it continues to pull planning codes and restrictions into its platform and updates its software. It’s partnering with U.S. property data providers including First American and BCI Build Central, along with Australia’s Nearmap, on the U.S. rollout.
Launching Thursday in Deep Ellum
Archistar is holding a launch event Thursday in Deep Ellum, according to Candy’s Dirt. David Contreras, principal architect at Dallas-based The Stamen Group, is working with the company on its U.S. launch.
“We reached out to [Archistar] about two years ago when they were thinking about rolling it out in L.A. or Virginia,” Contreras told Candy’s Dirt. “I told them that Texas was in the middle of the country, with direct access to the left and the right. And when you look at Dallas County and the volume of people that came in ‘20 and ‘21, the numbers speak for themselves.”
Zoning, environmental risk and more
Archistar platform zoning layer. [Video still: Archistar]
Promising to provide “intelligence on all levels,” the startup’s platform can offer info about zoning, terrain, environmental risk, and land use regulations via some quick clicks. Users can view them individually per individual land parcel, or across a whole region to spot development targets.
‘Cost-effective’ land surveys
Archistar’s EagleView aerial imagery. [Video still: Archistar]
Using market data from First American, the Archistar platform lets developers run land surveys by simply skimming across a map, canvassing with aerial imagery to look for sites before they send surveyors to physically inspect the land.
Productivity tools embedded in the platform allow developers to save land parcels, collaborate with their teams, set tags, track stages, enter notes, and store documents.
Generative design engine
Beyond simply looking for land, developers can use the platform’s generative design engine to create optimized designs. They can then run an “automatic environmental analysis” and calculate financial feasibility for their project.
“Within a few minutes,” the company says on its website, developers can “complete deep analysis that would take dedicated specialists weeks to finish.”
Individual licenses for the Archistar platform—which offers data on Dallas, Denton, Collin, and Tarrant counties—cost between $395 and $495 a month, Candy’s Dirt reported. Alternatively, The Stamen Group will do site-specific case studies on a flat-fee basis.
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