R-LABS has added two newly created companies, Helex and Matlas, to its portfolio of Partner Companies, marking an important milestone in their progression from validated industry problems to scalable companies.
Both companies are tackling significant challenges across real estate and construction. Helex addresses how building and asset data is structured, verified and maintained throughout the asset lifecycle. Matlas is creating the infrastructure to identify, verify and move surplus, recovered and salvaged construction materials from one use to the next.
Each brings a distinct value proposition. Together, they demonstrate what becomes possible with better information across an asset’s lifecycle.
Helex: Creating a Single Source of Truth for Complex Assets
The Problem
Buildings do not lack data. The challenge is ensuring that information remains complete, consistent and usable as it moves between owners, design teams, construction and operations.
For owners of complex facilities, information passes between architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) teams and multiple systems throughout the asset lifecycle. Fragmented systems, inconsistent standards and manual processes can create data gaps along the way, requiring information to be reconciled or rebuilt before it can be reliably used to operate and manage the asset.
The Company
Helex creates a single source of truth for facility owners and design teams by allowing data standards to be set, audited and enforced throughout the asset lifecycle.
The platform preserves data integrity as information moves between teams, connects systems and automates data capture, creating a verified model-of-record that supports both project delivery and ongoing operations.
More structured and reliable asset information also provides a stronger foundation for digital twins, AI and other technologies that depend on high-quality data.
The Opportunity
Helex is gaining traction with enterprise customers operating complex, data-intensive facilities, demonstrating demand for a more reliable approach to managing asset information throughout its lifecycle.
Its model is designed to scale across both projects and portfolios. As AEC firms adopt Helex on active projects, owners are introduced to the platform and can expand its use across their assets, creating a network effect that brings new AEC teams, projects and owners into the ecosystem.
“The industry needs data that is ubiquitous and interoperable between functions for capital planning and facilities management. Helex is creating that foundation. Working with R-LABS and its industry network has helped us stay closely connected to the owners and project teams living with this challenge every day, ensuring we’re building a solution that can work at scale.”
Vivek Ravi, CEO, Helex
Matlas: Building the Data Infrastructure for Circular Construction
The Problem
Construction has a significant waste problem but underlying it is an inventory intelligence problem.
Canada generates an estimated 12 to 14 million tonnes of construction, renovation and demolition waste each year, and Matlas estimates approximately 80% is recoverable. Yet surplus materials can remain on active sites without a clear pathway to recovery, while materials within existing buildings can be demolished before they are identified and captured.
The materials have already been paid for and often still have useful life remaining. What has been missing is the infrastructure to track, trust and move them to their next use.
The Company
Matlas is building the data infrastructure for circular construction, creating a managed marketplace and material-intelligence platform that connects surplus, recovered and salvaged materials with new demand.
Its approach is simple: Find. Trust. Move.
Matlas identifies available materials and demand, establishes the provenance and product information needed to verify them, and supports the transactions and logistics required to move them between projects and portfolios.
The Opportunity
Matlas is creating infrastructure to turn previously lost material inventory into a functioning market.
The platform is free to list, search and post demand, with Matlas generating revenue when materials move. Its model combines material intelligence, trusted industry standards, marketplace transactions and logistics without requiring Matlas to own the underlying inventory.
The company is also building on an established industry ecosystem. Through the ReUse Collective, owners, engineers, researchers and other industry participants are already working together to develop the standards, workflows and best practices needed to make circular material flows more repeatable and scalable.
“Circular construction requires more than technology. It requires owners, contractors, manufacturers and industry leaders to work differently together. R-LABS brings a curated industry ecosystem and collaborative problem-solving approach to the company-building process, helping us translate a solution grounded in construction practice into technology and industry frameworks designed to scale beyond individual projects.”
Carly Connor, Founder & CEO, Matlas
Where Helex and Matlas Connect
Helex and Matlas operate at different points in the asset lifecycle, but there is a natural connection between their models.
Helex helps create and preserve trusted information about an asset throughout its lifecycle. Matlas creates a pathway for that information to continue generating value when physical materials become surplus or reach their next use.
For a recovered material to retain value, the industry needs to know what it is, who made it, its specifications and where it came from. Helex helps establish and preserve that information. Matlas can use this type of material and product data to help make recovered items identifiable, verifiable and ultimately transferable.
One strengthens the information associated with an asset. The other creates a pathway for that asset to retain value beyond its original use.
They are standalone ventures solving distinct industry problems, but together their models demonstrate how better information at one stage of the asset lifecycle can create new possibilities at another.
“Helex and Matlas are proof of what R-LABS was built to do: pair entrepreneurial drive with real industry partnership to turn hard, overlooked problems — like fragmented asset data and lost material value — into scalable businesses. When entrepreneurs and corporations build together from day one, we don’t just solve today’s challenges, we create entirely new pathways for value across the industries we serve.”
George Carras, Founder & CEO, R-LABS
Be Part of What Comes Next
Helex and Matlas have reached an important milestone, but this is the beginning of their next stage of growth. R-LABS is bringing together industry leaders, strategic investors and organizations that can help accelerate their path to scale.
Interested in Helex, Matlas or future R-LABS investment opportunities? Connect with us to start the conversation.
