Grosvenor Property has joined investors including the Conduit Impact Fund, Concrete Ventures, Oxford Innovation Finance and Foundation Ventures to back citizen engagement platform Commonplace with a £2.1m funding round.
Led by venture capital firm Beringea, this round of investment will facilitate Commonplace’s expansion.
The online platform has assisted more than 3,000 projects for 200 councils and real estate developers, including councils in London, Leeds and Liverpool and companies Lendlease, Landsec and Barratt Homes, which have collectively engaged more than 6.5m people across the UK.
The move follows Grosvenor’s announcement of its Alternative Investment portfolio last year, which was designed to deploy capital into early-stage companies that contribute to its environmental, social, and commercial goals.
This will be Grosvenor’s fourth investment in an early-stage company.
The platform, which provides a place to collate data from stakeholders, including residents and businesses, also has an international presence and has been used to engage with locals in North America, Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, and Australasia.
Typical uses include urban regeneration schemes, high streets regeneration, housing developments, pedestrian and cycling schemes, and major infrastructure projects.
The firm, which has already reached 9% of the UK population, predicts it will see over 25m people using the platform in the next few years.
Grosvenor Property UK innovation director Andy Doyle said: “Great places are only created and managed through early, open and two-way engagement with the experts – the people who live and work there. This is a fact that Government and many businesses are now increasingly facing but are unsure how to effectively augment traditional face-to-face conversations with digital platforms.
“Commonplace’s technology powers more inclusive and extensive participation and improves our ability to understand and respond to local knowledge and needs.”
Commonplace co-founder and chief executive Mike Saunders said: “Moving beyond our sector’s aspiration to deliver social value, our work will allow users to define, plan for, target and then evidence the positive impact their buildings and places have on those who live and work in them.
“Just as environmental measurement frameworks are now supporting our decarbonisation journey, Commonplace’s increased product focus on social value will become a critical support to analyse and understand the ‘S’ in ESG.”
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