Buzzsaw to get $75 million investment
Buzzsaw.com will announce Monday that it has raised $75 million in venture capital to fuel its precipitous growth in business e-commerce.
The San Francisco-based start-up, an online marketplace for the construction industry, raised funds from Bank of America, Impact Ventures, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's Private Equity and Real Estate Private Equity Groups. The company said it plans to use the funding for marketing, sales and engineering interests, as well as acquisitions and global expansion.
Buzzsaw, which launched in November, faces stiff competition in online services for the construction business, estimated by trade groups as a $650 billion market in the United States last year. Buzzsaw and rivals BuildNet and Oracle-backed Bidcom are creating software or building marketplaces to connect architects, engineers, builders and material suppliers.
The investment follows an acquisition by the company last week. Buzzsaw said it would buy printing software company PageMasters to add to its services for building and design professionals.
Chief executive Carl Bass said Buzzsaw hopes to offer the industry "online services and e-commerce tools that are easy to use, require no special software or set-up consulting, and help industry professionals work more efficiently."
"This funding will support our continued growth as we add the resources needed to fully realize our market potential," Bass said.
Buzzsaw said the site has added an average of 300 building and design projects per week, adding to about 5,500 active projects.
The company is also backed by Autodesk and Crosspoint Venture Partners, which both participated in this investment, bringing the total capital it has raised to $90 million.