Brick & Mortar Ventures is a San Francisco venture firm founded in 2015 by Darren Bechtel, a fifth-generation member of the family behind the Bechtel engineering and construction group. The firm invests in emerging companies developing software and hardware for architecture, engineering, construction and facilities management, a mission it summarizes as helping the world build better. Bechtel seeded several defining construction technology companies, including PlanGrid, acquired by Autodesk for $875 million in November 2018, and BuildingConnected, acquired by Autodesk for $275 million in a deal announced in December 2018. In August 2019 the firm closed a $97.2 million fund, announced as the largest construction-focused built world venture fund raised to that point, with corporate limited partners including Autodesk, CEMEX, Ferguson Ventures, Hilti, Obayashi and United Rentals. It leads seed and Series A rounds, typically investing $1 million to $4 million, across the US, Canada, Europe and Australia. Other exits include Fieldwire, Levelset, Canvas and BuildZoom, and the active portfolio of more than 40 companies spans Curri, ALICE Technologies, Siteline, Rugged Robotics and Wingtra. No successor fund has been publicly announced since the 2019 vehicle, though the portfolio shows continued new investments.
Seed investment PlanGrid was acquired by Autodesk for $875 million in 2018, with fellow portfolio company BuildingConnected acquired by Autodesk for $275 million weeks later.