Our new report on Occupancy Analytics and In-Building Location-Based Services confirms that M&A activity in this space has seen an unprecedented rise since 2017 with a total of 151 acquisitions over the last 6 years.

Buoyant M&A activity in Occupancy Analytics highlights the evolving market for digital solutions which support the need for space utilization data in a hybrid workplace. This data also supports capabilities to forecast workspace requirements, schedule resources, count people and map commercial offices.

The number of companies acquired in the last two years was at its highest level since 2017, with 39 firms acquired in 2021 and 30 in 2022, indicating a continuing level of market consolidation.

Our study includes:

• An assessment of the global market size in 2022 and forecast to 2028
• An overview of use cases
• An evaluation of occupancy analytics solutions by functionality
• The competitive landscape of over 200 companies
• M&A, investments and partnerships

We explore seven Occupancy Analytics solution types by functionality: Space Utilization and Planning; Resource Scheduling; Integrated Workplace Management Systems (IWMS); Indoor Mapping and Location Analytics; IoT Platforms and Devices; Visitor Management Systems; and Occupancy-Based Facilities Management.

The major facilities management software and IWMS companies (such as MRI Software, FM:Systems, Yardi, Tango and Planon) are leading the drive to acquire workplace technologies.

Acquisitions and mergers have also been undertaken between competing players in order to achieve critical mass and to join forces in this competitive environment. The merger of Archibus, SpaceIQ, Serraview, iOffice, Teem, ManagerPlus, Hippo CMMS and Condeco to form Eptura is the major example, with IWMS players combining with resource scheduling software providers and asset and maintenance firms to create pure play vendors in the integrated workplace management space.

Real estate service firms are continuing to expand their occupancy analytics offerings and technology leadership in corporate real estate. Eg. CBRE Group acquired Buildingi, a US provider of occupancy planning and technology services, to meet the growing occupier demand for occupancy management services.

Flexible and hybrid working has also accelerated the demand for visitor management software which has evolved in the post-pandemic era into a solution for managing employees as visitors and has broadened into a more encompassing flexible workplace and security toolset. 

According to our report, M&A activity reached its peak in 2021 and 2022. We expect acquisitions to continue in the near future as occupancy analytics software and indoor location 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.

Occupancy Analytics Consolidation in 2023

In May 2023, three further acquisitions have been announced which support our analysis

• Jooxter, a French startup based in Lille providing an occupancy data analytics platform acquired Wx Solutions
• OfficeSpace Software acquired Greetly, a US visitor management platform
• Australian headquartered Equiem acquired Dublin, Ireland-based SpaceOS to integrate flexible space technology into the EquiemOne tenant experience platform.

This Occupancy Analytics report is the first instalment of a two-part series covering Workplace Technology. Part 2, covering Workplace Experience Apps, Tenant Engagement Platforms and Mobile Access Control, will be published later in Q2 2023. These reports are included in our 2023 Premium Subscription Service.

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