Bentley Systems Launches $100M Corporate Venture Capital Fund
The effort will support an ecosystem of “Digital Twin” innovators
Touchdown Ventures is proud to announce our ongoing work with Bentley Systems to help manage the company’s Bentley iTwin Ventures corporate venture capital fund. The information below outlines details about the new fund, and Bentley’s official press release can be found here.
What does Bentley Systems do?
Bentley Systems provides innovative software to advance the world’s infrastructure, sustaining both the global economy and environment. Bentley’s industry-leading software solutions are used by organizations of every size for the design, construction, and operation of roads and bridges, rail and transit, water and wastewater networks, electrical utilities, buildings and campuses, and industrial facilities.
What is a “Digital Twin”?
“Digital twins” are digital representations of physical assets, processes or systems, providing opportunities to understand and model performance of real world infrastructure. Digital twins are continuously updated with data from multiple sources, which makes them different from and functionally superior to static, 3D models.
Bentley’s iTwin Services can help designers, engineers, contractors, or owners quickly create living digital twins that aggregate data from multiple sources, visualize data in mixed reality, and apply artificial intelligence or machine learning to underlying data to generate decision-making insights.
What is the focus of the fund?
The new venture fund will invest in start-ups that build applications and solutions to support Bentley’s ecosystem of “digital twin” technology. Examples include: design and simulation, engineering, construction, or asset lifecycle management solutions (e.g., infrastructure IoT; predictive maintenance; resilience analysis) addressing roadways, railways, waterways, bridges, utilities, industrial facilities, and other infrastructure assets.
The fund will focus primarily on seed and early stage opportunities. Initial investments will typically range from $1–5 million each, with reserves for follow-on investments.
How can an investment from Bentley Systems create value?
Portfolio companies will benefit from Bentley’s software development and infrastructure engineering expertise, global distribution and user network, and investment backing as they work to develop, test, and bring to market innovative digital twin solutions. The corporate venture capital fund will also assist portfolio companies with mentorship, assistance in raising capital, recruiting, and commercial introductions.
Interested in learning more?
Touchdown Ventures works closely with Bentley senior executives to help manage all aspects of the Bentley iTwin Ventures fund. Please get in touch with us if you have an investment opportunity in any of our focus areas.
More information is available about Bentley Systems, Bentley iTwin Ventures, and Bentley’s “digital twin” solutions.
Greg Bergamesco is a director at Touchdown Ventures, a Registered Investment Adviser that provides “Venture Capital as a Service” to help corporations launch and manage their investment programs.
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