Facilio reveals its data-driven vision
Following a successful Series B funding round, Facilio outlines its plans for the digital transformation of the built world
In February this year, Facilio, the property operations software platform provider, announced that it had raised $35 million in Series B financing, led by Dragoneer Investment Group, with participation from Brookfield Growth and existing investors Accel India and Tiger Global Management.
Founded in 2017, Facilio offers a unified software platform that leverages an AI-led predictive engine to help real estate portfolios digitise processes and optimise their property operations. Replacing the traditional and siloed software landscape that has frustrated the market for decades, the solution aggregates data from multiple, disconnected systems across portfolios into an integrated, cloud-based platform, helping operations and maintenance [O&M] teams become data-driven and agile.
Furthermore, the platform encompasses a suite of SaaS applications for maintenance [CMMS/CaFM solutions] and operational visibility, sustainability, and remote equipment performance monitoring. This modern approach allows customers to reduce operating costs, exceed sustainability targets, and elevates customer experiences.
Having emerged as a next-generation leader in the $50 billion commercial real estate-focused operations software market, Facilio has established a broad, global customer-base and is rapidly gaining market share with faster-than-market sales growth across multiple geographies. It’s growing list of portfolio-scale deployments includes commercial office buildings, retail chains, hospital systems and higher-education campuses.
As the company takes the next step forwards in its evolution following its Series B financing, Big Project ME speaks to Prabhu Ramchandran, founder and CEO of Facilio. The company is well positioned to accelerate digital transformation in the built world and lead the industry’s transition towards IoT-led connected buildings, he says. Now, however, the financial backing from the investors will allow it to extend its market leadership, expand sales and marketing, and enable more companies to reach success through a predictive, connected model of real estate operations, he points out.
“We will be using this investment for strengthening our UAE and Middle Eastern customer facing teams – specifically our sales and support teams,” he says. “We’ll also look at using it to expand into more Middle Eastern countries, and to scale our research and development teams to launch more products.
“There is huge frustration in the market with current outdated and silo-ed tools. Facilio has been working towards the vision of moving the industry towards data-driven, connected and mobility enabled solutions. This funding will help us execute our vision at scale and bring in more innovation for the market.”
In the wake of the pandemic, real estate related businesses are heavily dependent on reopening properties safely, while still operating with efficiency and agility. Therefore, the need for technology that enables them to work with remote operations capabilities, reduced operational costs and improved workforce efficiency is crucial, Ramachandran points out.
“Our vision is to bring in connected, data-driven, intelligent solutions for real estate operations. This is aligned with new market needs, and we believe that these solutions will provide real estate players with the platform to improve their profit margins and meet the needs of their customers.”
It is this vision that attracted investors to finance the company’s Series B financing round, with Josh Raffaelli, managing partner at Brookfield Growth stating that as customers of Facilio, they have seen first hand the benefits the platform brings.
“What Prabhu and the team are building isn’t merely a great product portfolio, but a movement towards data-led property operations. The company is writing the blueprint for how modern real estate portfolios will operate in the next decade and beyond.
“Technology-led real estate operations are shaping into a lucrative market. Industry stakeholders are increasingly taking stock of the many benefits, such as operational agility, productivity, instant ROI, and superior CX, that software-led platforms can unlock seamlessly,” Raffaelli explains.
“Such possibilities, for relatively older buildings with disconnected systems, are a major boost. So, the case for value in the market makes itself. And by investing in Facilio, Brookfield intends to gain exposure to this attractive market.”
He adds that Facilio’s value proposition is its ability to deliver demonstratable results as advertised, pointing out that not many companies can say the same, especially in a long-value-chain asset class like real estate.
“Most importantly, Facilio boasts market dominance in the UAE, which we believe to be a trailblazer in the larger Middle East and a byword for innovation globally. A testament to that is ICD Brookfield Place, a 990,000 sq.ft landmark office project in Dubai’s Commercial Business District that recently launched with Facilio’s cloud platform to deliver a connected model of operations.
“The company’s inherent strengths, combined with the allure of the markets that it operates in, made a clinching case for funding. Together, we intend to pursue excellence in real estate operations and maintenance and set unprecedented standards.”
Ramachandran adds to this by highlighting the importance of technology-led building operations to the UAE’s ambitions of becoming a digitally empowered nation, and a leader in the development of smart cities.
“Data-drive and connected operations lays the foundations for the real estate industry to building upon and implement AI-powered solutions and evolve into larger smart cities solutions. The value is multi-fold in terms of improved agility and productivity, reduced operational costs, meeting sustainability goals, and elevating customer experiences,” he concludes.
