In this Research Note, we examine the Australian workplace experience platform provider, Equiem, with a focus on the evolution of their app, target markets and strategic acquisitions.

Founded in 2011, Equiem launched one of the first tenant experience apps for office buildings. Currently, their workplace experience suite includes a workplace experience app, analytics tools, building operations management, and eCommerce capabilities to connect users to local retailers.

Equiem One, introduced in May 2022, combines Equiem's tenant experience, operations, and data & analytics solutions into a single, modular interface.

"We believe a single platform for office building management is imminent," Gabrielle McMillan, CEO of Equiem said. "Landlords articulate this in different ways. Some say that want all their systems "integrated", others say they want "a one-stop-shop" for all their software needs, but what they're really saying is they need a singular interface that brings all the features and data together in one place, for the multiple stakeholders in an office building… and that's what we're delivering."

Equiem’s customer base includes some of the world’s largest landlords and its platform is deployed across more than 120 million square feet of commercial real estate, in 800+ buildings across Australia, Europe, UK, the US and Canada.

In its home market, Equiem is Australia’s most widely used tenant experience platform, which covers about 30% of the premium and A-grade office market in Australia for clients including Dexus, GPT, Lendlease, Vicinity, Pembroke, Salta and Stockland.

Equiem Acquisition of SpaceOS

In May 2023, Equiem announced that it had acquired European workplace management software company, SpaceOS. Founded in Poland in 2016, SpaceOS adds 50 million square feet (4.6 million square metres) of space and expands recurring software revenue by 20%. The combined footprint of Equiem and SpaceOS covers more than 25 countries.

The SpaceOS platform has been deployed by European office landlords, including Commerz Real, Immofinanz, and Sage. And the technology has also been used by space-as-a-service operators such Unicorn, Rooms, and Factory. 

The strategic rationale for the acquisition was based on SpaceOS’ deeper intellectual property in the flexible space, which gives Equiem “the opportunity to evolve their offering just in time to meet what we feel is a rise in the growth of flexible space,” according to the CEO in the Australian Financial Review.

Funding for the deal was raised from Hitachi Ventures, BeyondBuild, German developer MOMENI, Caleus and others.

Vicinitee Acquisition

Equiem acquired British Land’s Vicinitee property management platform in April 2021. The deal extended Equiem’s offering into a comprehensive workplace management platform encompassing solutions for tenant experience, property operations, visitor management & access and flexible space management.

Specifically, Vicinitee’s work order and contractor, visitor and space management technology were integrated into Equiem’s tenant engagement, vendor management and analytics platform.

The acquisition of Vicinitee tripled their UK business and increased Equiem’s global footprint to around 500 buildings and over 100 million square feet of commercial real estate. Vicinitee is currently used across 157 properties, including The Shard, The Gherkin, The Scalpel, Kings Cross and Broadgate. The platform is also used by many of the UK’s managing agents, including Knight Frank, Savills and Workman.

With these acquisitions, Equiem has expanded its suite of offerings to add building operations functionality to its tenant experience app and augmented its capability to serve flex space operators and hybrid workplaces. However, they face stiff competition from a raft of companies such as HqO who boast deployments in over 400 million square foot of commercial real estate.

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