Newforma, the US-based provider of hybrid (on-premise and cloud) project information management technology backed since mid 2017 by Battery Ventures, has announced the acquisition of Minneapolis-based EleVia, a financial software company for the architecture and engineering vertical market (no deal value given).
Founded in 2016, EleVia delivers and supports software that facilitates key financial and operational processes for the architectural and engineering markets with software modules for electronic invoicing, payables approval and tracking, A/R management and collections, forecasting, and more. These modules improve cash flow, automate tasks, improve productivity, reduce operating costs, and provide valuable insight into project performance and profitability. It prides itself on its “deep knowledge of Deltek Vision” (and VantagePoint), and claims 250 professional services customers in North America, Europe, Asia and South America.
Newforma says the acquisition widens its Project Center footprint in the AECO market with connectors to additional industry applications, enabling a more complete offering for architecture and engineering design organisations.
Brock Philp, CEO of Newforma, says:
“EleVia’s technical prowess strengthens our commitment to solve the AECO vertical market’s unique challenges and remain at the center of all things project related with the addition of deeper solutions. We are pleased to welcome EleVia employees and customers to Newforma. EleVia will continue its operations as they are today and continue to serve customers and partners well.
The Extranet Evolution view
In an information-centric and cost-conscious industry such as construction, adding some financial management capabilities to project information management may make sense. However, while PIM is a fairly generic function, financial management is less international, being subject to national accounting regulations and to historical industrial practices and processes that are often quite specific to local and/or vertical markets. Assuming Newforma plans to integrate EleVia capabilities into its PIM platform or does some cross-selling, in the UK, for example, it faces strong competition from well-established UK-based rivals such as COINS, Redsky IT, Causeway and Eque2.
Prior to Battery Ventures’ involvement, Newforma was strongly pushing a connections strategy (see September 2016 post: Newforma gets connected). This latest deal seemingly overlaps Newforma more with Deltek, another US-based AEC ERP business, which in July 2016 acquired a Newforma competitor, the UK-based Union Square. Deltek could perhaps be wondering if Newforma is now going to be targeting its combined ERP/PIM customers. Interesting times.
