This Research Note examines the recent Tango announcement that it has acquired Locatee, a Swiss workplace analytics firm. We assess the portfolio and acquisitions of US-based facilities management software firm, Tango Analytics, the rationale for the Locatee deal, and our forecast for the occupancy analytics market in 2024 and beyond.

This transaction continues the consolidation trend exemplified by our coverage of 2023 workplace technology acquisitions and following on from Hubstar’s acquisition of Relogix in January 2024.

Tango

Founded in 2008 and based in Dallas, Texas, Tango offers Store Lifecycle Management and Integrated Workplace Management System software, delivering a single solution spanning real estate, design & construction, lease administration & accounting, facilities, desk booking, visitor and space management. LinkedIn reports 233 employees.

Tango secured an equity investment from Berkshire Partners in December 2021 to extend the company’s position in the real estate and facilities management software market and accelerate both U.S. and international growth. Since then, the company has augmented its software portfolio with three acquisitions:

• A New York City firm, WatchWire, was acquired in August 2023 adding a sustainability and energy reporting capability.
• In June 2022, Tango acquired billie app, a startup founded in 2016 based in Ottowa, Canada, providing a mobile-first workplace application that uses gamification to engage employees and modernize workspace.
• AgilQuest, another US provider of enterprise-level reservation and occupancy management solutions, was acquired in January 2022. Founded in 1994. AgilQuest’s complementary solution provides a strategic extension of Tango’s reservations and resource scheduling capabilities, needed by companies of all sizes to address the requirements of a flexible work environment.

Locatee Acquisition

Locatee, a Swiss workplace analytics firm founded in 2014, has developed a smart building platform designed to collect data from IT networks and other systems providing real-time workspace insights to Corporate Real Estate teams.

Locatee has built up a corporate clientele that includes EY, Biogen International, Zurich Insurance, Deloitte and Swiss Re.

“The complexities of managing a hybrid workplace mean that organizations are facing an imbalance in space supply and demand, with space utilization rates under 40% on average,” said Pranav Tyagi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tango. “Organizations are actively seeking to better understand occupancy levels, however existing solutions are often disparate and cost-prohibitive, leaving them struggling to gain accurate insights. With the addition of Locatee, Tango provides a comprehensive, cost-effective solution that empowers them to address critical questions regarding actual occupancy and utilization, leveraging their existing Wi-Fi and hard-wired networks as well as additional data sources such as badge and IoT sensors.”

Outfitting an entire real estate portfolio with IoT sensors is not an option for most organizations. Locatee bridges the occupancy data gap by providing occupancy data leveraging existing investments in Wi-Fi and ethernet, reducing costs and delivering a holistic picture of space usage across the entire portfolio.

Locatee’s offices, based in Zurich, Switzerland, will become Tango’s European headquarters serving the company’s international customers. The combined business will serve over 500 customers in more than 140 countries from its primary offices in Dallas, New York, and Zurich.

Market Outlook

Workplace technology has become a significant focus for acquisition activity in recent years as M&A deals enable commercial real estate stakeholders to augment their software and IoT offerings. These acquisitions and investments are indicative of a buoyant workplace technology market accelerated by the changing needs of commercial real estate landlords and tenants in a return to the office.

We expect acquisitions to continue in the near term as occupancy analytics technology plays a crucial role in the data-driven approach to establish human-centric workplaces for building occupants and to support more efficient operations for facility owners and workspace operators.

Our 2023 Occupancy Analytics Report forecasted that the Global Occupancy Analytics market in the commercial office space is estimated at $3.25 Billion in 2022, rising to $7.07 Billion by 2028, growing at a rate of 13.8% CAGR.

This article was written by Daphne Tomlinson, Senior Research Associate at Memoori.