North Shields, UK-based mobile Software-as-a-Service asset management application vendor Kykloud has been acquired by Austin, Texas-based software business Accruent for an undisclosed sum.
Launched in January 2012, proptech startup Kykloud was founded by Edwin Bartlett and former 4Projects (now part of Viewpoint nearby in Newcastle-upon-Tyne) CTO Nick Graham, and in six years has grown to around 25 people, generating around £5m in annual revenues. Its information capture and reporting toolset was initially focused on the needs of surveyors and engineers but by 2016 owner/operators were Kykloud’s biggest sector. It has supported property management inspections for the UK’s Network Rail, and 15 months ago was selected to review the condition of around 80,000 buildings in 22,000 state-funded schools across England as part of the Education Funding Agency’s Condition Data Collection Programme (post). Kykloud says it is used by operators such as the BBC, engineering and services firms including CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield, and over 30% of all UK surveyors.
The core Kykloud software suite comprises three main components: mobile building surveying data collection, web-based asset management data storage, and desktop reporting.
Accruent, since May 2016 a Genstar Capital private equity portfolio company, delivers cloud-based software and services to manage real estate, facilities and asset management, from capital planning through to Internet-of-Things (IoT) monitoring and control. It claims to have created “the only integrated SaaS-based framework and reporting platform for full lifecycle physical resource management”, and has over 7,000 global customers in a wide range of industries in 149 countries around the world. Recent acquisitions include BlueCielo (Amsterdam-based asset lifecycle information management provider – bought in November 2017), Lucernex, a provider of Integrated Workplace Management Systems – August 2017) and Verisae (IoT solutions provider – September 2016). UK retailer Sainsbury’s is listed among Accruent’s customers, which I understand also include Boots and the Co-op.
In a letter to business partners, Kykloud says:
“the companies’ visions are well aligned, and our product lines are highly complementary. Kykloud customers will benefit from Accruent’s world-class support infrastructure and the advantages that Accruent’s scale brings to our operations, development and cross-application innovation.”
Accruent provides solutions complementary to Kykloud, including IWMS, facility management (CAFM), predictive maintenance and IoT-based equipment control. The letter says Kykloud and Accruent already share customers in the retail sector using vx Maintain, an Accruent product.
John Borgerding, CEO of Accruent, says:
“Kykloud’s software complements Accruent’s existing strength in capital planning, and we’re pleased we already have joint customers linking it with one of our facility management solutions. This acquisition helps us fulfill our global strategy of bringing complementary best-of-breed solutions into our portfolio, and fits our vision of helping customers manage physical resources across their lifecycles. We look forward to introducing the ease-of-use and flexibility of Kykloud’s tablet-optimized app to customers around the world involved in property surveying, third-party building maintenance or real estate operations.”
Ed Bartlett of Kykloud says:
“We’ve long admired Accruent’s global reach and best-of-breed solution set. We are confident that Kykloud’s accessible user experience will add an important and strategic component to Accruent’s portfolio, and will put Kykloud in front of a much wider range of customers.”
