Shadow Ventures built its own research platform, called Shadow Insights, to track and verify data across the construction industry, and its investors include major construction, real estate, and design companies that give the startups it backs real connections and projects to grow with. The fund looks for companies solving physical, on-the-ground problems—like new construction equipment and business models—rather than just software, and it also hosts industry events and points out how little venture funding goes into construction compared to its size in the economy.