Mobile construction collaboration developer Fieldlens has been acquired by WeWork, the New York-based provider of shared office and co-working space.
New York, US-based mobile construction management application developer Fieldlens has been acquired (for an undisclosed amount) by one of its customers: WeWork, also New York-based and a provider of shared office and co-working space.
Founded by Doug Chambers (raising over $1 million in startup funding) and Matt Sena, Fieldlens launched the Beta service of its mobile construction collaboration service – once dubbed the “Facebook of Construction” – in late 2013. Then I was particularly interested in its shift from the industry norm of email-type communication processes to mobile-friendly short-form status updates and messaging feeds (Should construction dump email?). Fieldlens formally launched in March 2014, and two months later closed an US$8m funding round. The Fieldlens app is available on both Apple iOS and Android platforms; the platform is priced at US$15/user/month.
Founded in 2010, WeWork designs and builds spaces where individuals and businesses can share space and office services and collaborate. It has locations in 19 United States cities and 12 countries including Australia, Canada, India, China, Hong Kong, France, the UK, Israel, South Korea, Mexico, Netherlands and Germany. In 2015, WeWork acquired BIM technology consultancy Case (read Wanda Lau’s piece for ARCHITECT), for an undisclosed amount.
Deal logic
In a blog post, WeWork chief product officer (and Case co-founder) David Fano explains the rationale behind the move, saying the company is opening 5 to 10 locations every month, becoming one of the world’s largest consumers of design and construction services, and recognising the importance of information in efficient building processes:
“WeWork is in a unique position as one of the only true end-to-end solutions that is involved in every phase of a building’s life cycle — from identifying, leasing, and designing to building and managing.
Our vision for the built environment is to develop a fully integrated solution where we source, design, build, and operate space for every one of our members.
With that in mind, … WeWork has agreed to acquire Fieldlens, one of the building industry’s leading project management applications. Fieldlens is six years into their mission of streamlining construction by empowering users with effective on-site communication.
WeWork is actually already one of Fieldlens’ biggest customers. As an early adopter, our product and construction teams have seen first-hand what connected front-line teams can accomplish and we could not be more excited about the future together.
With the Fieldlens team now part of our Product and Construction team at WeWork, we want to innovate on every aspect of our building process and break the silos within the industry to ensure clear communication and a free and easy exchange of information at every stage.
Fieldlens founder Chambers has also penned a blog post, and makes it clear that Fieldlens will retain its own identity:
“… we’ll be working together to create a new paradigm for the construction, management and operation of physical space. …
Construction, and the built environment as a whole, is a critical component to our economy and overall well-being. It is time for our industry to rise up and lead all of us forward, and together with WeWork we are going to do exactly that.
The Fieldlens application will continue to be offered as a stand-alone construction communication product and we will continue to iterate and innovate. As part of WeWork we’ll have more resources to continue to focus on our goal of making the work-lives of construction professionals more efficient.
