RedTeam Acquires Fieldlens, As M&A Activity in Construction Tech Steams On

Maturing Sector Brings More M&A Activity As Well As Investor Activity

The latest evidence of the wave of Mergers and Acquisitions in Construction Tech comes with the announcement today of the acquisition of Fieldlens by RedTeam. Both RedTeam and Fieldlens are among mobile solutions developed predominantly over the past decade. While RedTeam historically was more focused on Project Management digitization, Fieldlens was really a pioneering software in the use of a “Smart Job Sites,” more photo-based onsite field coordination tool.

Fieldlens, An Early Pioneer in Smart Job Sites, Had Been Part of a WeWork Strategy

Fieldlens was acquired by WeWork back in 2017, as WeWork looked to provide “end-to-end solutions” for managing its own real estate activities. As we learned in interviews with Fieldlens Co-Founder, Doug Chambers who stayed on with WeWork post-acquisition, and also with Veresh Sita, former CEO, WeWork Enterprise & Powered by We, there was a vision of leveraging WeWork’s tremendous and growing real estate footprint to create a highly robust solution for managing that work, not only for WeWork, but also in the broader commercial real estate market. This transaction perhaps sets the stage for some of that technology to make its way into the marketplace in a more robust way now.

BuiltWorlds visit to WeWork in 2017 during one of our annual New York RoadTrips. where we had a chance to learn from Doug Chambers, Fieldlens cofounder about how WeWork was leveraging the Fieldlens tool in the end-to-end management of their own real estate needs.

Watch the a Demo by Fieldlens Founder, Doug Chambers, from back in 2016 to see more about the solution’s early leadership in the photo-based project management arena.

As Sector Matures, M&A Activity Extends Deal-Making Beyond the Traditional “Majors.”

So far most of the acquisitions we have seen in this sector have been by big, established technology players. Autodesk’s acquisitions of Pype, Spacemaker.ai, and other applications this year, as well as Bentley’s acquisition of Notevault are illustrations of the trend. However, as the newer generation of mobile apps and other technologies mature, it is likely we will continue to see more mergers and acquisitions in this new generation of smaller, emerging players in addition to the acquisitions by bigger, older, more established companies. As usual, we’ll be cataloging our biggest deals of 2020 in January to provide more perspective on the types of deals happening in the sector today.

Continued March to More Robust and Comprehensive Solutions for the Industry

In the meantime, this activity is probably good news for industry players who increasingly are looking for more comprehensive and robust solutions, tying categories of solutions like Project Management, Smart Job Sites, and Equipment Management together better. For many in the industry, the prospect of fewer sign-ins alone will be perceived as a significant benefit.