About Us

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Basking.io is a workplace analytics platform for real estate executives, helping to use data-based occupancy insights to support the business mission. We provide technical and data science expertise to support our clients in adapting to the changes in the modern workplace.

We believe corporate real estate is not a cost center anymore. It is critical to attracting, enabling, and retaining top-quality employees.

Basking.io helps to achieve these goals by providing space utilization insights based on the data from WiFi networks. It’s fast to deploy across portfolios, affordable at scale, and privacy-compliant.

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Meet The Leadership Team

Dr. Eldar Gizzatov

Co-founder and CEO

Eldar is the founding CEO of Basking Automation, having worked on the venture since its inception in 2017.

Prior to starting Basking, Eldar was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Allianz X, where he was a founder and CEO at FairFleet – the drone services marketplace for real estate and insurance.

Before working at Allianz and FairFleet, Eldar was the international business development manager at Lendico – Rocket Internet’s online lending platform. Eldar also has more than 10 years of experience in partnership management, pricing, marketing strategy, and marketing communications, working at MobileSmith, Autodesk Inc. and Integrated Energy Systems.

Eldar earned an MBA from Duke University and a PhD in Political Science from Moscow State University.

Thomas Raz

CTO

Tomer (Thomas) Raz joined Basking as Chief Technology Officer in 2022 as a proven leader in managing engineering teams across a range of sizes and departments.

With extensive enterprise B2B experience from such market leaders as Zageno and Seerene, he brings years of experience building and scaling sophisticated cloud-based analytics solutions.

Thomas is committed to innovative, solution-oriented approach to software engineering, particularly as a way to create solutions to environmental challenges while also generating new economic opportunities.

Anjali Grover

Head of Analytics

Anjali is the Head of Data Analytics at Basking.io, a workplace occupancy analytics platform, since September 2021.

She holds master’s degrees in Computer Application and Data Science and has more than 6 years of experience solving critical business problems using data science techniques. Anjali and her team at Basking are currently helping real estate management teams from Fortune 500 companies to uncover patterns in their occupancy data using analytics and data science.

Previously, Anjali was a part of the Merchant Analytics team at American Express, India where she worked with marketing partners from the US and APAC regions to expand business opportunities between AmEx and its merchants.

Erik Langner

Global Director of Sales

Erik joined Basking in March 2024 as the Global Director of Sales, responsible for new revenue and customer growth.

Prior to Basking, he worked in the commercial real estate space with location intelligence platforms Nearmap and LightBox as well as with a number of start-ups. He is committed to helping customers use technology to identify cost and resource savings while building a vibrant, collaborative workplace experience.

Erik holds an MBA from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from UCLA.

Board of Directors

Dr. Eldar Gizzatov

President and CEO

Eldar is the founding CEO of Basking Automation, having worked on the venture since its inception in 2017.

Prior to starting Basking, Eldar was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Allianz X, where he was a founder and CEO at FairFleet – the drone services marketplace for real estate and insurance.

Before working at Allianz and FairFleet, Eldar was the international business development manager at Lendico – Rocket Internet’s online lending platform. Eldar also has more than 10 years of experience in partnership management, pricing, marketing strategy, and marketing communications, working at MobileSmith, Autodesk Inc. and Integrated Energy Systems.

Eldar earned an MBA from Duke University and a PhD in Political Science from Moscow State University.

Dr.-Ing. Olmo Mezger

Co-Founder

Olmo was the first COO of Basking Automation, responsible for the product, operations, and enhancing the customer experience. He is now the Innovation Manager at Elia Group.

Olmo started working on Basking together with Eldar while at Innogy Innovation Hub. Back then, Olmo was a technical advisor for ventures in energy and AI. He has been working in IoT, Data Science and Cleantech development since 2005, incl. early-stage startups in electric vehicles and energy management: Green & Energy (CEO / CTO).

Olmo holds a Ph.D. and a Master’s degree in Energy Engineering and Economics from Technical University Munich.

Zain Jaffer

Partner at Blue Field Capital

Zain Jaffer launched his first start-up when he was 14, and eventually went on to build a multi-national technology company that would sell to Blackstone for $780M in 2019.

Zain is currently a Partner at Blue Field Capital which was the lead investor in Basking. He started the venture capital fund at Blue Field which now has a portfolio of 20+ startups in Proptech. Blue Field also owns a multi-billion dollar commercial real estate portfolio across the US. Zain sits on the investment committee for all real estate and venture capital investments.

Beyond his work in the real estate and technology industries, Zain also established the Zain Jaffer Foundation (https://zainjafferfoundation.org) to aid disadvantaged communities and shed light on some of the biggest social problems of this age.

Zain Jaffer holds a Master’s Degree in Technology Entrepreneurship from University College London and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from King’s College London.

David Mirmelli, MBA, MCR

CRE Industry Leader, Advisor, and Board Member

David Mirmelli is a seasoned Workplace & Technology Executive with extensive international experience. He has a deep understanding of the requirements within fast-paced multinational organizations and has worked across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific in portfolio, facilities, technology, and project management.

David has led corporate real estate for several prominent multinational companies. His experience includes:

  • Head of Corporate Real Estate for Fortinet, a global cybersecurity company HQ in California.
  • Head of Corporate Real Estate (India & APAC) and Global EHS (Environmental, Health & Safety) for Cognizant, an IT services and consulting firm HQ in New York/New Jersey.
  • Global Head of Corporate Services at BMC Software, an IT services, consulting and enterprise software company with HQ in Texas.
  • VP Corporate Real Estate for the UK, North America, and Australia at Thales Group, a global aerospace, defence, security, and transportation leader with HQ in Paris.

In addition, he has had significant roles prior with Johnson Controls as CRE Director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and managed conveyancing, title, and escrow operations for Centex Real Estate Corporation in Texas.

Originally from the US, David has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Texas Tech University, an MBA from Universiteit Nyenrode in the Netherlands, and an MCR Master’s in Corporate Real Estate from CoreNet Global. He holds three nationalities—US, UK, and Polish—and currently resides in the UK with his wife, son, and daughter.

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