9/20/2025
When Brandon Yates was a Grainger Engineering student, his CEE 395 course project on sidewalk cost estimation seemed like just another assignment. Today, that project has evolved into DeepWalk, a Chicago-based startup that has raised $4.2 million to date, serves 90 municipalities nationwide and is revolutionizing how cities make communities more accessible for everyone.
“I don't think entrepreneurship was the goal; it was something that I kind of fell into. I think it's unlikely without that course project that any of this would have happened.”
–Brandon Yates
Brandon Yates and Anshul Shah are co-founders of DeepWalk and Illinois Grainger Engineering alumni.
DeepWalk is an automated inspection software that uses LiDAR scanners (Light Detection and Ranging) in the iPhone to measure sidewalk systems for accessibility compliance. The startup provides municipalities, engineering firms, universities and consultants with an efficient way to collect the sidewalk data needed to create, implement and maintain ADA transition plans.
Traditional sidewalk inspections require workers to measure every panel with tape measures, a painstakingly time-consuming process for cities with hundreds of miles of sidewalks. DeepWalk transforms this tedious workflow with LiDAR technology making the process cost effective and less labor-intensive. Data collectors simply walk sidewalks while scanning, creating photorealistic 3D models that DeepWalk's software automatically analyzes for accessibility compliance. DeepWalk’s technology is 15x faster than a comparable ramp inspection and it has helped inspect 8,000 miles of sidewalk to date.
According to DeepWalk, cities like Edina in Minnesota, reported "exponentially increased speed" in identifying compliance issues, while smaller municipalities like Genoa in Illinois reported that the technology makes proactive sidewalk management feasible despite limited staffing. The technology allows entry-level staff to produce reliable data with minimal training.
Based on nationwide feedback from more than 100 city engineers and consultants, DeepWalk was founded in 2019 by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni, Brandon Yates (’21, B.S., civil and environmental engineering) and Anshul Shah (’22, B.S., engineering physics).
"I signed up for the National Science Foundation Illinois I-Corps program and interviewed city engineers to better understand the challenges around sidewalk planning and maintenance for wheelchair accessibility. They complained that inspections take too long," Yates said. "I don't think entrepreneurship was the goal; it was something that I kind of fell into. I think it's unlikely without that course project that any of this would have happened."
DeepWalk is addressing a massive market opportunity. "The transition planning market that we serve right now is $350 million a year in the country and close to $1 billion worldwide,” Yates said. “We are going after the automated inspections market, which is estimated at $10-$30 billion worldwide. To address the automated inspections market, we must grow into a company that provides a platform to generate construction documents and automatically measure anything."
While sidewalk accessibility remains its core focus, DeepWalk is strategically expanding into adjacent markets like commercial inspections. The company also works with large franchises, hospitals and retailers like Walmart and McDonald's, conducting large-scale assessments of their building entrances to parking spaces. Next year, DeepWalk plans to expand into offering different types of assessments in cities, like transit spaces.
The startup is also planning to roll out sensor-agnostic versions of their proprietary software that accepts 3D models from sources beyond iPhones like car mounted scanners. For now, the iPhone remains central to their customer acquisition strategy for commercial inspections given its user-friendly interface.
Aiming to offer a comprehensive sidewalk management platform in the near-term, DeepWalks’s roadmap includes launching self-onboarding capabilities and developing a hosted ADA transition plan feature. Currently, municipalities use DeepWalk's data to create required accessibility plans, but keeping these plans updated proves challenging.
The accessibility landscape varies dramatically across states. Illinois has emerged as a frontrunner in ADA compliance, with both state-level support and strong regional planning efforts.
"There is a strong push for accessible infrastructure across the state of Illinois that we have been able to support,” Yates said. “They're putting a lot of resources into supporting local municipalities in making sidewalks accessible. The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning has been a significant partner.”
Yates’ hometown of Danville, IL. was DeepWalk’s first customer. Currently, their biggest customer is Spokane, WA. DeepWalk is also exploring opportunities with the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission. In addition to working directly with municipalities, counties and state transportation departments, DeepWalk also partners with engineering and consulting firms like Kimley-Horn, WT Group, and Oates Associates.
DeepWalk's path wasn't without challenges. The team ran out of money in 2021, and the co-founders worked for free until raising their pre-seed round in May 2022.
"We also set goals for ourselves: we're going to close $70,000 in sales in this time frame,” Yates said. “We couldn’t have worked for free forever, and we eventually pulled it off." The team ultimately raised their $1.6M seed round in April 2023 and moved to Chicago.
Highlighting Chicago's value proposition for scaling startups. "We see ourselves as being a lifelong Chicago company,” Yates said. “Your money goes far here relative to the cost of living, compared to any of the coastal cities. We also love the access to strong mid-career software engineers who want a different pace of life. Plus, Chicago's central location makes it easy for us to visit customers across the country in person."
Yates offers realistic encouragement for current Illinois students.
"Starting a company in college is less risky as students have fewer financial obligations and they might not have a family to support yet, which makes later-career entrepreneurship more daunting. But if you don't want to do it, don't force it, because it's hard."
He also adds, "Engineers often underestimate the difference between making something work once versus making it work reliably at scale. We had 700,000 inspections with DeepWalk this year, which created entirely new engineering challenges. Getting software to work once is hard enough, but making it work seamlessly for customers hundreds of thousands or millions of times is a fascinating problem we've had to solve."
“Hiring is the difference between a dead company, a good company and an amazing company,”
Brandon Yates, DeepWalk
Talent acquisition is another incredibly important decision for startups.
"Hiring is the difference between a dead company, a good company and an amazing company,” Yates said. “For people trying to start a company, you must put a huge amount of effort into hiring."
From a single course project to 700,000 inspections annually, Yates and his team are proving that the most impactful innovations often begin in classrooms for communities that need it most.