Bentley Systems launches £75m iTwin Ventures fund

Bentley Systems, the infrastructure engineering software company, has unveiled its £75.28 million Bentley iTwin Ventures corporate venture capital fund.

The fund will invest in promising technology companies that are addressing the emerging opportunities for infrastructure digital twin solutions for roadways, railways, waterways, bridges, utilities, industrial facilities, and other infrastructure assets.

It fosters innovation by ‘co-investing in startups and emerging companies that are strategically relevant to Bentley Systems’ objective of advancing infrastructure through going digital’. 

In a statement, Bentley says that the fund will invest in early and mid-stage companies that ‘demonstrate ability to develop applications and solutions that leverage and extend infrastructure digital twin opportunities, particularly in the public works and utilities, and industrial and resources, infrastructure sectors’.  

Furthermore, the fund will invest in opportunities which can leverage Bentley’s iTwin Platform and open-source toolkits, supporting subject matter expertise, commercial teaming, and/or global reach and relationships within the infrastructure engineering community, the statement continues.

"Taking advantage of the momentum from Bentley Systems’ initial public offering, we are excited to expand our Acceleration Initiatives by formally launching the Bentley iTwin Ventures fund to support the growth of entrepreneurial companies dedicated to infrastructure digital twin solutions," says Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems.  

"Our iTwin Platform provides a scalable open-source foundation for technical and commercial innovation that will empower a vibrant ecosystem to creatively combine and connect what digital twins now make possible for infrastructure constituents. Proprietary analytics, data services, benchmarking, and infrastructure-as-a-service commercial models, for instance, are not in Bentley Systems’ direct scope, but we are glad to have a stake in bootstrapping these future successes,” he adds.

The statement adds that Bentley Systems is working with corporate venture capital firm Touchdown Ventures to establish Bentley iTwin Ventures. An initial investment in FutureOn was announced on October 16, 2020.

FutureOn is a Norwegian software company supporting deep water subsea projects, to accelerate going digital within the oil and gas industry. 

The investment sets the stage for FutureOn and Bentley to deliver the next-generation digital twin technology required for oil and gas ecosystems to manage and analyse data, integrate with existing systems, provide analytics visibility, and rapidly explore ideas collaboratively.