US-based infrastructure engineering software producer launched Bentley Systems launched a $100m corporate venture capital vehicle on Tuesday dubbed Bentley iTwin Ventures.
Bentley iTwin Ventures will fund developers of technology that can complement its parent company’s aim of digitising infrastructure management. It will make initial investments of between $1m and $5m in portfolio companies.
The fund will be managed by Touchdown Ventures, the corporate VC partner that already manages vehicles on behalf of companies such as packaged food producer Kellogg, garden and lawn product provider Scotts Miracle-Gro and mobile network operator T-Mobile.
Greg Bentley, Bentley System’ CEO, said: “Our iTwin Platform provides a scalable open-source foundation for technical and commercial innovation that will empower a vibrant ecosystem to creatively combine and connect what digital twins now make possible for infrastructure constituents.
“Proprietary analytics, data services, benchmarking and infrastructure-as-a-service commercial models, for instance, are not in Bentley Systems’ direct scope, but we are glad to have a stake in bootstrapping these future successes. Here’s to the fullest going-digital ecosystem for infrastructure digital twins.”
The vehicle’s first deal was an investment of undisclosed size in FutureOn, a Norway-based developer of software that helps digitise the management of subsea oil and gas projects.
