// 2018 WA Innovator of the Year Tom Young’s proptech uDrew has won a nice half a million federal government grant to help commercialise its platform.
Following nearly a decade of research and development, award-winning local proptech uDrew is set to gain national momentum after receiving $508,000 in funding through the federal government’s Accelerating Commercialisation grant.
This comes after the team successfully completed several pilots and studies with the City of Wanneroo & the City of Auckland.
The uDrew platform enables home owners & contractors without any technical skill to design, engineer and manage their own home renovation project from start to finish.
Tom – one of the nice guys of the local startup scene – told the story of the company in last year’s Startup West podcast interview.
Whether you’re putting in a pool, a new gate or making an extension, Tom reckons uDrew users can save 70% on costs and can receive near-instant council approval for their projects.
He also believes that the COVID-19 situation has only highlighted the need for reduction of red tape and digitisation.
“There are a lot of moving parts that have to be carefully calculated and in sync with each other,” said Tom about the Udrew platform.
“This can only happen through collaboration and co-innovation between industry and government’’, explains Young.
Tom Young
“The City of Wanneroo is pleased to see innovative businesses such as uDrew continue to grow,” said City of Wanneroo Mayor Tracey Roberts.
“As a Local Government, we are always looking at ways to deliver services more efficiently, streamline processes and reduce red tape.”
uDrew has picked up a number of prestigious awards both nationally and overseas, including taking home the “Overall Western Australian Innovator of the Year Award’’ in 2018 & also New Zealand’s “Best Technical Solution’’ at the 2019 ALGIM awards in Wellington.
“It has been an amazing & challenging journey’’, said Tom, “But this year things really seem to be taking off as we prepare to launch… we have been contacted by a number of councils, governments and industry leaders locally, over east & overseas, as well as some of the world’s largest global tech companies.’’
With the system now proven, uDrew is set to be a game changer for the global construction industry in a post-COVID world. The aim is to empower anybody to create their own fully certified & approved building plans in a matter of minutes, while potentially lowering the current design and approval costs
Udrew is looking to redefine the entire building industry as we know it.
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For more information, please see www.udrew.com.au
MAIN PHOTO – uDrew team 2020. Above, in article, team in 2019. Images supplied.
