When you’re a successful software company in the 3D tech space, it’s only a matter of time before one of the big companies comes calling. For ClearEdge3D, that day has come. The makers of the popular EdgeWise and Verity software (and recent acquirers of Pericept’s smartphone as-built verification solution) have sold all outstanding shares to Topcon.
With the acquisition, Topcon takes a big step deeper into the vertical construction market. As Topcon president and CEO Satoshi Hirano explained in an official statement, the company was interested in ClearEdge’s expertise in computer vision, object recognition, and “other advanced technologies to solve major problems in the AEC industry.” Hirano went on to call the combination of ClearEdge with Topcon’s resources in survey and precision instruments a “powerful combination.”
ClearEdge is “not anticipating” any changes to the EdgeWise or Verity products in terms of name, price, or licensing. Though ClearEdge products will likely be bundled with Topcon products in the future, the company plans to continue with a “hardware agnostic/vendor agnostic” approach, meaning that the products will likely be available unbundled, and that partnerships with companies like Trimble will be unaffected.
“We are friendly with all the manufacturers and software providers in our industry,” says ClearEdge, “and we don’t see that changing.”
Kevin Williams, ClearEdge’s CTO and founder, explains that the company will now be able to leverage Topcon’s sales and financial resources to better serve Verity and EdgeWise customers. That means “faster development times, faster releases, and an ability to respond faster to your feature requests.”
Though neither company released the terms of the deal, or talked about future plans, Williams did say that ClearEdge3D and Topcon have spent “the last few months harmonizing and honing” a joint product roadmap, presumably with new products to come in the future.
For more information, see ClearEdge’s FAQ on the acquisition.
