Serial acquirer Trimble continues to assemble a construction engineering BIM portfolio. SketchUp extendability is considered a major asset.
By Randall S. Newton
Trimble (Nasdaq: TRMB) announced today it is acquiring SketchUp from Google. A sale of the popular 3D drafting tool has been rumored for weeks, but it was widely assumed the buyer would be Dassault Systèmes. This is Trimble’s third acquisition in 2012. The deal is expected to close no later than June 3o, 2012.
Trimble is best known as a provider of GPS technology, but for the past five years it has been assembling a wide range of companies and technologies to build a portfolio for built environment data usage. It already owns a variety of products for field data models, project management, structural engineering, and network/utility construction and operations. In a statement, Trimble says the SketchUp acquisition will “enhance our ability to extend our existing market applications including the cadastral, heavy civil, and building and construction industries.”
SketchUp has both an Application Programming Interface (API) based on Ruby for program customization and a Software Development Kit (SDK) in C++. Having ready-made programmability will make it easier for Trimble, its distribution partners, and third-party developers to create new applications and for Trimble to integrate SketchUp into its wide range of products.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed; the purchase price was described as “not material” to the company’s revenue. “Not material” is a specific financial term, meaning the acquisition was no more than 5% of the acquiring company’s annual revenue. If Trimble paid Google 5% of its 2011 revenue, the purchase price would have been $90 million. If so, Google more than doubled its initial investment in SketchUp six years ago; analysts at the time speculated Google paid @Last Software anywhere from $15 to $45 million for SketchUp. CAD industry analyst Brad Holtz, CEO of Cyon Research and host of the annual COFES conference, notes there were 30 million downloads of SketchUp in 2011. Put a value of $3 per user and $90 million seems like a reasonable ceiling for what Trimble paid.
SketchUp currently claims 2 million active users per week, based on their ability to track how downloaded copies are used. On an average week, between one-third and one-half of those active users are running SketchUp Professional, which retails for $495. As one SketchUp employee says regarding market presence, “If Autodesk or Bentley is there, so are we.”
Why Trimble? Why SketchUp?
Trimble seeks to be a leader in Building Information Modeling (BIM). Most BIM software companies approach the market from the architecture side, but Trimble is assembling its BIM portfolio focusing on construction. Trimble says its BIM focus “is on the deployment of integrated solutions for the contracting community, with enhanced use further in the construction process including BIM to Field.” It further defines BIM to Field as “extending the design data created in the office down to field level systems for precise delivery of design and construction elements.” Trimble will likely use SketchUp to tie together the various loose ends that have come with acquiring so many products so quickly.
There was considerable hype when Google acquired SketchUp in 2006, hot on the heels of Google’s acquisition of Keyhole, the creator of Google Earth. The vision was for an army of SketchUp users to populate Google Earth with realistic models of buildings across the globe. While that has happened to some degree, it stopped being of keen interest to the Google mother ship a long time ago. Giving SketchUp a new home within a BIM company—one that is wholly devoted to built assets and digital data—should give the SketchUp team a new sense of mission and enthusiasm. Perhaps the hiring office Autodesk opened recently in Boulder, Colorado—SketchUp’s home town—won’t get as much traffic as Autodesk planned.
Ralph Grabowski says
It was SketchUp’s own blog that reported the 30 million figure.
Peter Quandt says
For several months, I have been trying to reach someone in the upper echelons of the Internet entity called SketchUp. I understand, that the Trimble company is now the owner of SketchUp. I am 81 years old and have used SketchUp’s 3D modelling for my own home-amateur purposes for several years. I have dabbled in designing an ultimate concrete Disaster Resistant ROUND House, knowing, that the most common shapes in the universe are the circle and the sphere. My SECOND INTEREST was to design a concrete ocean vessel, to be parked in shipping lanes for oil tankers. The designed vessel would take on spilled oil without the aid of pumps. My THIRD PERSONAL INTEREST was to design a TRANSIT BUS, built to manouver and fit into very small parking spaces and to be able to manouver on icy roads, without having to move the total mass of the bus. I have come to the point of wishing to pass on my findings and designs. I am not interested in remuneration. I have had no rights to use the SketchUp method of 3D design commercially. Another way to articulate my request would be to ask, if I, as a personal home user of the 3D modelling entity could pass on my amateur designs to an Internet publisher such as Pinterest and to friends, who may pass the information on as well. One additional point for me to make, is to point out, that natural and accidental disasters have made certain innovations more applicable than ever.
Kathleen Maher says
Hi Peter, interesting ideas and question. I believe that your non-commercial license does allow you to share your designs. As you say, you are not selling your services, or requesting a job. The larger issue is how to export your work in a shareable format, and for that you will need some kind of license, either Pro or Shop. The Shop license is $119 a year, and Pro is $299 a year. Here is an Trimble’s page on the subject: https://help.sketchup.com/en/sketchup/using-sketchup-data-other-modeling-programs-or-tools