Graphisoft Spins Off Constructor to a New Company

A new company based in the United States will assume control of the software and services provided heretofore by Graphisoft's Constructor division.

The company as yet to be given a formal name, is backed by Borealis Ventures, venture capital firm. Mark Sawyer, formerly a VP at Graphisoft and most recently the CEO of @Last software (the creators of SketchUp) serves as this group's Entrepreneur-in-Residence.

Until then, the Construction Division remains part of Graphisoft and will be continuing to drive business and support customers. The spin out will be headquartered in the United States with subsidiaries in Finland, UK and Hungary. Graphisoft will have a minority interest in the new company and will share in the future upside potential of the business.

The reason that Graphisoft has taken this action is “time horizon” according to Dominic Gallello, CEO of Graphisoft.

“We have proven that the market is real and that we can win. The only challenge is the time that it will take for Virtual Construction to go mainstream in large construction companies on a global basis. This will take several more years. We believe that the financing of the losses required until the market moves more to the mainstream would be best be done outside of Graphisoft.

Financiers who make a business of funding such opportunities were eager to provide additional funding for this effort. Further, the Construction Management teams’ belief in the business was so strong, they were happy to participate in the Management Buy Out.”

There will be no change in the Construction Division’s strategy and Graphisoft and the new company will work closely together in the future. ArchiCAD will continue to serve as the foundation for the new company’s construction offering.

Details about the product suite can be found here.