At Volpi Capital, we have made no secret of our excitement around the ongoing digital transformation of the engineering and construction industries. With the leading European industry trade shows in H1 in mind – including BAU, BIM World, and bauma – we remain confident that the increased adoption of Building Information Modelling (“BIM”) standards and creation tools will ultimately have the same impact on the design/construct/operate space as CAD solutions initially had on manufacturing.

However, as content can also be increasingly adapted, the progress across BIM Levels allows for multi-dimensional interactions, going beyond 2D/3D to also incorporate cost, time, as well as sustainability and energy efficiency considerations. Whether your goal is to speed up progress across the DfMA lifecycle or differentiate your business offering by material usage or specific workflows, we are seeing numerous opportunities across Europe to partner with founders and management teams to co-operate and accelerate growth, together.

Secular Drivers of Growth

It’s been clear for many years that the regulatory impact from governmental mandates for the use of BIM in public sector projects will drive civil engineering and construction uptake. Austria and Norway were the first movers, establishing open BIM standards and open BIM mandates requiring Level 3 BIM on publicly funded projects. Many other countries such as the Nordics, the UK, France, and Italy followed, establishing Level 2 BIM mandates with various schedules set for moving to Level 3. Germany and Spain have in recent years introduced national BIM programmes with a view toward eventual full mandates.

In parallel, workflow efficiencies from digitisation have long generated competitive advantage for users across the built value chain. However, we are the last to claim that BIM is limited only to certain vendors and products (incl. Revit, Archicad, Bentley, Tekla). In fact, BIM is much more of a concept and industry standard, where many forms of software can be “oriented towards BIM”, especially now when BIM viewers and Common Data Environment (CDE) tools are plentiful.

This is why we are seeing opportunities to back CEOs and founders that lead businesses involved across the built environment, including structural and mechanical engineering software, visualisation tools, cost estimation platforms, offsite construction solutions, and cloud-based collaboration tools.

The shift toward connected workflows and ISO 19650 compliance has brought CDE and document management to the forefront. Teams are looking for smarter ways to centralise information enriched with metadata, reduce risk, and boost productivity. The movement toward federated models and digital twins adds further complexity – and opportunity – for software vendors serving highly specialised AEC/O workflows.

Market Dynamics Driving Opportunity

The global BIM software market is expected to grow at double-digit CAGRs over the next decade, supported by tailwinds across infrastructure stimulus packages, the energy transition, and broader digitisation of asset-heavy industries. In Europe, where the construction sector accounts for nearly 10% of GDP, BIM adoption still lags behind potential in many regions – creating a long runway for growth.

Importantly, the adoption curve is being pushed not just by top-down regulation, but also by bottom-up demand from end-users across architecture, engineering, and contracting (AEC) firms looking to standardise workflows, improve predictability, and reduce rework. Similarly, large asset owners and facility managers are increasingly demanding structured data handover for long-term operations and maintenance, pulling BIM into the full lifecycle.

We are also seeing the growing role of Artificial Intelligence and automation across BIM processes – from clash detection and quantity take-offs to predictive maintenance and generative design – as new vectors of value creation.

As with other sectors, the rise of vertical SaaS is becoming more pronounced: vendors who deeply understand specific construction workflows are carving out strong niche positions, particularly when combined with industry-specific IP, domain-led go-to-market strategies, and high levels of customer intimacy.

What Do We Think – And Why

BIM is no longer just a tool; it’s becoming the operating system of the built environment. We believe that the winners in this market will be those that help customers unify fragmented workflows, unlock value from data, and support increasingly complex project delivery requirements.

With adoption still in its relatively early stages, now is the time for a specialised private equity partner like Volpi to back the next generation of fast-growing, software-centric challengers in this space. We are excited by the opportunity to support visionary founders with a combination of strategic guidance, international scaling expertise, and an appetite for inorganic growth through targeted M&A.

+44 (0)203 961 1570

info@volpicapital.com

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