US-based software developer for architects Autodesk agreed to acquire for $875m PlanGrid, a US-based construction software developer. PlanGrids counts cloud services provider Box and internet technology conglomerate Alphabet among its previous backers, as the latter had both invested in its $1.5m seed round in 2012.
Established in 2011, PlanGrid has developed and runs a collaboration platform that makes it possible for general contractors, subcontractors, architects and owners to work together on projects in real time. The company claims its platform is currently used in over one million projects across 90 countries. Autodesk intends to integrate PlanGrid into its building information modelling software, Revit, and construction management platform Bim 360.
This acquisition is a success story for a business from the broader construction and real estate space, which has been receiving more attention from corporate venturers both in terms of number of corporate-backed deals and total dollars involved in them, as evidenced by the historical bar chart by GCV Analytics. If this trend continues, we are likely to see more acquisitions of such enterprises in the future. And there are economic fundamentals to support the belief that this trend will continue. At present, we are currently (still) in the expansion phase of the economic cycle, which followed the Great Recession of 2008 and the ensuing real estate bubbles in developed markets. Until a serious new market correction is produced and as long as credit continues to be relatively cheap, there is no reason to suppose that the construction and real estate sector will stop growing and attracting innovating technology developers.
