Bridge inspection is slow and expensive, and it often requires hanging beneath a bridge on climbing ropes, measuring cracks by hand. ConeLabs set out to fix that by applying the latest computer vision and AI.
Doug Griffin, the founder and investment lead of Spatial Capital, saw what the company could become and moved early to lead their pre-seed round and take a board seat.
Nine months later, ConeLabs was acquired by Consor, an engineering firm with more than 1,800 professionals across the United States and Canada. Here's their announcement.
The problem ConeLabs solved
ConeLabs turns drone footage and field imagery into inspection-grade 3D models of bridges, roads, and buildings. Its AI finds and measures cracks and other defects right on the model.
For inspection teams, that means faster and more accurate inspections. For everyone who drives across a bridge, it means safer infrastructure and fewer delays from road closures.
By the time of the acquisition, ConeLabs had already worked with departments of transportation in several states, according to Consor's announcement.
Doug Griffin led from the first check
Doug has spent 25 years building companies in perceptual computing. He knows what it takes to turn what a camera sees into a product customers rely on, and he recognized that in ConeLabs early.
Spatial Capital led the pre-seed round. As lead, Spatial set the terms, brought the round together and took a board seat. It was Spatial's first lead investment and its first board seat, and Doug says the team helped materially improve the exit amount.
From there, Doug worked closely with founders Albert Mansour and Ahmed Mahmoud from the first check all the way through the acquisition.
"Had we not been there, the resulting exit would've been very different," Doug says.
Spatial Capital played the primary role on the investor side of this outcome, from leading the round to the board seat to the sale.
The outcome
ConeLabs is now part of Consor, which gives its technology a much larger path into the agencies and engineering teams that inspect and maintain roads and bridges.
"It's been a remarkable journey, and I'm particularly proud of what the team accomplished in such a short time," Doug says.
Spatial has now completed distributions from the sale. For Follow Fund I investors, Doug says the exit returned more than half of their paid-in capital.
With that milestone complete, Spatial Capital is opening up to $1M in additional capacity in Follow Fund I for new LPs. Spatial is speaking with prospective investors through Thanksgiving. If you're an accredited investor and would like to learn more, visit spatial.capital or see Spatial on Decile Access.
Spatial Capital backs founders applying AI to the physical systems people depend on every day, with the goal of a more resilient and humane future.
For Doug, returns and impact go together. "We think we've got an opportunity as an investor to not only produce an ROI for our LPs, but also make the world a better place," Doug says. "ConeLabs makes our physical infrastructure safer and more reliable. Now Consor can help scale this to more geographies."
Why investors like Doug need more backers
Specialist investors like Doug, people with deep operating experience in their field, often see a company like ConeLabs years before the headlines. They know the technology, they know the founders and they move with conviction.
But most people who'd like to back investors like Doug never get to meet them. If you're an accredited investor, you've probably thought "I don't even know where to find these funds."
That's why we built Decile Access.
What Decile Access does
Decile Access is our curated marketplace of vetted VC Lab funds. It helps accredited investors find and learn about emerging fund founders and investment leads.
- It's curated. We list the investment leads we know personally, with transparent terms and clean structures.
- Every fund on Decile Access goes through Decile Group's operational, legal and compliance stack, including entity formation, fund administration, banking and reporting.
- It's built to teach. A plain-language guide explains what a venture fund is, how long money stays committed and what to ask before you invest.
Our mission at Decile Group is to democratize access to venture capital for the next generation of fund leaders and the investors who back them. Decile Access is where that mission meets investors.
Decile Access is for accredited investors only. Venture investments are illiquid and can lose some or all of their value, and nothing here is investment advice.
See Spatial Capital on Decile Access
See all the funds on the marketplace at decileaccess.com.
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About Spatial Capital
Spatial Capital backs early-stage founders building physical AI for a more humane future. Learn more at www.spatial.capital.
About Decile Group
Decile Group runs VC Lab, the largest venture capital accelerator in the world by number of firms launched, along with Decile Hub, Decile Access and Decile Capital. Through VC Lab, we've helped launch over 1,000 venture firms. Learn more at decilegroup.com.