Anthemis Group’s Post

Just ONE year ago, VCs were sceptical about our vertical AI solution… Now, industry-specific automation is hot, hot, hot 🔥🔥🔥 When we started raising our pre-seed in summer of 2023, there was so much noise about the future of GenAI. Many doubted whether verticalised AI - i.e. specialised for industries like real estate - could succeed against the might of “Big Tech”. Wouldn’t companies like Microsoft or OpenAI eat us alive? We were told, time and again: 🗣️ "The market is too small." 🗣️ "Incumbents will dominate." (whether we’re talking Microsoft or JLL’s IT team!) 🗣️ "Your solution won’t be needed - people will settle for good enough." But my co-founder Johnny and I had a different thesis. We knew that tackling real estate’s unique workflows required deep domain expertise. You CAN’T solve complex problems like asset valuation, facility optimisation, or compliance workflows with a generic chatbot trained on the internet 🤯 We also knew that big players wouldn’t design tools that truly understood the nitty-gritty of this industry - tools that could effortlessly combine rent rolls, seismic data, and even parking space counts (is it 56 or 57? That matters!) to drive decisions. So, we stayed the course. We built a platform tailored to the pain points of people who live and breathe real estate, from developers to asset managers. And honestly? It wasn’t easy. Investors didn’t immediately get it. Many said no! But here’s the thing about being a founder: You’re betting on your depth of understanding. You’ve seen something others haven’t. Thanks to the support of incredible early backers like Seedcamp and Anthemis Group who took a bet on us as much as our vision…we proved our thesis. Fast forward 18 months, and investor sentiment has shifted. Suddenly, everyone’s searching for vertical AI solutions. Now, the same VCs who were sceptical about focused plays are championing them. So, what’s the takeaway for founders? - Stick to your guns. Your lived experience gives you an edge - Not every piece of investor feedback is gospel - The best founders create markets where others see none Today, 5D is helping real estate pros move mountains (and, yes, read far fewer PDFs). And the journey’s just getting started. If you’re building something so-called ‘niche’ and doubting whether the world will get it, PLEASE don’t stop. The world has a funny way of catching up 🌍