Autodesk acquires water-sewer-drainage management solutions giant Innovyze for $1B, bolstering their end-to-end AECO portfolio.
In their largest acquisition to date, Autodesk has acquired Innovyze for $1B. This is the fourteenth AEC acquisition/investment by Autodesk since 2017, following Assemble, BuildingConnected, PlanGrid, Pype and Spacemaker. These acquisitions total $2.4+ billion. The pattern these acquisitions paint is a strategy of fleshing out solutions for all phases of infrastructure lifecycle: plan – design – construct – commission – operate.
Innovyze is a global leader in serving the water industry, a legacy of 35 years in innovative software development. Among their thousands of clients globally, are some of the largest water concerns, like NYC, Sydney Water, and the LA Department of Water and Power. Sewer utilities like Thames Water (UK), Melbourne Water, and Washington DC. River and flood authorities like FEMA (US), San Antonio, SES, and the UK Environment Agency. Plant and manufacturing firms like BASF, bhpbilliton, Kruger, and F.tech. A substantial number of Innovyze clients are also existing Autodesk clients; this is especially the case among large infrastructure consulting firms the likes of AECOM, ARUP, ATKINS, Jacobs and Stantec.
In the joint press briefing on February 24th, 2021, Innovyze CEO Colby Manwaring said: “For three and a half decades Innovyze has been largely an unknown part of the daily lives of millions of people around the world. Our solutions help deliver clean drinking water, safe sanitation or sewerage, and protection from flooding in our communities. Similarly, if you look at the built world around us, Autodesk design DNA is found in just about every structure above ground, and many below ground. So, it makes strategic sense to bring our complimentary organizations together that are critical to so much of the world’s infrastructure and so much of the world’s population. We look forward to completing the acquisition and getting to work together.”
“Today 2.2 billion people across the globe lack access to safely managed drinking water and services,” says Amy Bunszel, Executive VP, Autodesk AEC Design. “With 25% of the world’s population living in high water stress areas, this is expected to expand as population growth and urbanization continue to increase, as expected, exacerbating the problem. Nearly 9 trillion gallons of water are lost each year worldwide due to prolonged leaks and pipe breaks that have been difficult to identify and fix. An enterprise portfolio of operational analytics, distribution modeling, and asset management solutions provides the visibility needed above and below ground to help identify these problems. Together we can help better provide safe clean drinking water, manage water and wastewater, and address flooding as climate change increases the frequency and severity of storms and sea levels rise. Combining the Innovyze portfolio with the power of Autodesk design and analysis solutions, including Autodesk Civil 3D, Autodesk InfraWorks, and the Autodesk Construction Cloud, this brings civil engineers, water utility companies, and water experts the ability to better respond to issues and to improve planning, operations and maintenance for the future.”
The integration and product development strategy discussed by Manwaring and Bunszel will be largely focused on customer feedback, and likewise models for subscriptions. “Our current plan is to maintain the revised product portfolio,” said Bunszel. “And we certainly want to make sure that enterprise customers feel well cared for as we move them to Autodesk. We’ll continue to work together as we get to know the two businesses and see how we can better serve all of our customers.”
This is an example of a significant development in the AECO solutions industry, and for infrastructure at a time when infrastructure is getting a lot of attention. While infrastructure development world-wide was on a steep upward trajectory pre-Covid, the pandemic has not only pressed many in the industry to implement process automation more rapidly, but also heightened awareness with many economies implementing infrastructure-investment-as-stimulus. And this Autodesk and Innovyze announcement comes amid the heightened awareness of water resource issues, exemplified by the recent events in Texas.
