MRI Software Acquires Toronto-Based Angus Systems
US real estate software giant makes second building operations-related proptech acquisition in five months
By Philip Russo January 19, 2022 12:00 pm
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MRI Software continues to bet on the demand for building operations technology, announcing Wednesday that it has acquired Angus Systems, a Toronto-based provider of building operations management software for commercial real estate owners and operators.
The acquisition follows MRI’s August 2021 purchase of facilities management proptech company FSI, which is based in the U.K. Spokespeople for MRI declined to provide pricing in both deals.
“There’s definitely some similarity, but the difference here is that we believe the facilities management space is going to be a growing area for quite a long time,” said Saurabh Abhyankar, Ohio-based MRI’s chief product officer. “It’s really one of those areas where we’re seeing a lot of change, specifically around COVID, with people doing hybrid work and visitor management starting to change quite a bit.”
“We weren’t super strong in facilities management,” he added. “A year ago, we had a product called Workspeed that had been going for a while, but over the last 12 months or so we kind of doubled down on it, acquiring FSI, which has an extremely strong footprint in the U.K. Angus provides us with a very strong footprint in North America as well.”
The two acquisitions create “some overlap in functionality in some cases, but the real point is that each one of these products and companies have extremely strong footprints in a different client base.” Providing products aimed at different sectors of real estate is another goal of MRI’s acquisitions, said Abhyankar.
“We want to provide facilities management across all properties,” he said. “Angus is particularly strong in retail and commercial, but we provide facilities management for residential, as well. FSI on the other hand, tends to be really strong in facilities like factories and manufacturing. Again, we’re trying to serve all the people that interact with properties around the world, across all the different kinds of properties: commercial, real estate, residential, multifamily, retail, factories and so forth.”
Calling proptech a “reasonably fragmented space,” Abhyankar said, “In terms of our DNA, we want to be as open a platform as we possibly can. In fact, probably one of the things that separates MRI from our competition is that we have this very bold investment in being an open portfolio. Our acquisitions actually fit really nicely, because our goal is to provide an end-to-end set of proptech capabilities for our clients all around the world.”
Angus Systems has more than 700 customers, and its trademark platform, Angus AnyWhere, is used to manage 2.7 billion square feet of property across North America. It encompasses service management, access control and tenant experience, with centralized control and information across work orders, credentialing, touchless entry, amenity services and building communications.
“The time is right to enable future growth and we could not be more excited about this next step in our journey,” Chris Gale, president and CEO of Angus Systems, said in a statement. “MRI’s commitment to innovation and client success mirrors our own, and I’m confident they’ll be a great partner to not only carry our legacy forward, but take it to the next level. We’re excited to introduce our solutions to this growing and thriving community.”
FSI has more than 300 clients around the world, including in Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Founded in 1990, the company serves multiple asset classes and industries, including retail, health care, education, office, government, logistics and manufacturing.
Philip Russo can be reached at prusso@commercialobserver.com.
