Hyde Park Angels announces its first exit. In mid 2008, we invested in Gradebeam.com, a commercial construction communication network. Then came the financial crisis! Gradebeam held it together. HPA supported the company, and Doug Monieson did a fantastic job representing us on the Gradebeam board.
Today, we can say that Gradebeam has been acquired by Textura Corporation. Needless to say we are excited. Who'd have thunk that a revolutionary construction communication network would survive the worst real estate crisis in US history to be bought?
This really is a credit to the Gradebeam team and their CEO Bryan Jurewicz, the associates that helped us do initial deal screening, and the angels that helped the business. Here is the content of the press release.
Deerfield, Illinois — October 19, 2011 — Textura Corporation, the leading provider of collaboration solutions for the commercial construction industry, announced today that it has acquired GradeBeam.com, a leading online communications network for general contractors and subcontractors. GradeBeam.com’s online bid management service, cloudbased document sharing and construction communication tools will supplement Textura’s existing suite of collaboration products for the construction industry. “This acquisition allows us to extend our mission to better serve the construction industry by providing additional collaborative solutions that offer significant value to all participants on construction projects,” said Patrick Allin, Chairman and CEO of Textura. “Leading the industry’s technology transformation, we are combining the technical expertise of Textura and GradeBeam.com to empower our clients with productivity tools that span the entire construction lifecycle – from pre-qualification to payment – on a single, integrated platform.” An innovator, Textura is proactively enhancing its capabilities to drive the transformational shift to virtual collaboration among key players in construction. GradeBeam.com will help bolster Textura’s strong position as the leader in this growing market by increasing Textura’s capacity to keep the industry connected from the start through the finish of jobs.“We are excited to have the opportunity to join Textura and further enhance our combined products with our industry expertise, technical knowledge and brand reputation,” said Bryan Jurewicz, President and CEO of GradeBeam.com. “Textura and GradeBeam.com have demonstrated success in delivering efficient and effective solutions that help the industry focus on construction, not paperwork. This acquisition strengthens our value proposition to our customers and allows us to expand the offerings available to them.”
This is great for HPA, great for Gradebeam, great for Textura because they are getting a great company, and great for the Chicago Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.
