OpenBuildings launches new site and secures Series A funding

OpenBuildings, a global archive of buildings for architecture lovers and industry professionals, today announced it has secured a $2 million Series A funding round led by BlueRun Ventures and Index Ventures. John Malloy of BlueRun Ventures will join the board and the funding will be used to expand the team in London, UK and Sofia, Bulgaria as well as improve the existing technology of this cross media service.

“OpenBuildings aims to promote the sharing of architectural knowledge and gives a platform for discourse between professionals and the general public. What I find exciting is that OpenBuildings allows people to discover buildings and then share and discuss them in a completely new way. I think this is going to really stimulate people’s interaction with architecture.” Adel Zakout, Co-Founder, CEO.

OpenBuildings allows users to learn about and be inspired by the world’s finest architecture. Any registered user can share their architectural knowledge by finding and submitting building information, uploading media and opinions about historic, contemporary or conceptual buildings. The site currently has 50k registered users and holds data on over 40k buildings from across the globe; it aims to collaboratively archive the world’s built environment. OpenBuildings has an accompanying iPhone app, ‘Buildings’, which already has over 250K downloads.

“Services like OpenBuildings are uniquely positioned to ignite passionate audiences, architecture enthusiasts in this case, by leveraging mobile technology to deliver content and community to users wherever they are. This type of community engagement and information sharing is really brought to life with mobile technology which allows you to physically stand in front of a point of interest and take in all the relevant information at the same time,” says John Malloy, General Partner at BlueRun Ventures.

The funding coincides with the launch of a new version of the website, which features updated information and content as well as new functionality to serve the community. The new version includes:

· Daily-featured buildings to highlight the latest newsworthy architecture.

· Easy submit process for architectural enthusiasts to add the buildings they love.

· Extended submit process for professionals to add more detail and depth to their projects.

OpenBuildings is an intelligent, filterable building directory for professionals, architecture-lovers, tourists and students and allows users to quickly and easily discover, learn about, discuss and share architecture that interests them.

“Learning about architecture was a frustrating experience –there was simply no single destination online for research. The lack of information and discussion about such an elemental thing in life, the built environment, has always confused me – surely something that is so important to our quality of life should be open and accessible instead of being decided behind closed doors.” Tom Mallory Co-Founder, COO.