“By ‘leapfrogging ahead’ with Bentley to align geosciences with infrastructure engineering through deeper digital twins, Seequent underscores our conviction that better understanding of the earth creates a better world for all,” said Shaun Maloney, chief executive officer of Seequent, regarding the recent news of Bentley Systems intention to acquire Seequent.
That’s a powerful statement, especially that last part about creating a better world for all. How on Earth do they plan to do this?
Bentley Systems and Seequent, a developer of 3D geological modeling software, are teaming up “to advance environmental resilience by ‘deepening’ infrastructure digital twins.”
Bentley turned heads when it announced plans to acquire Seequent in a deal worth $1.05 billion on March 11, 2021. We are reminded of Dassault Systèmes making a similar leap into the geological modeling space in 2012 when it acquired Gemcom Software, which now makes up its GEOVIA product line, for approximately $360 million. Bentley is poised to dominate the geological modeling space, not only because its investment is three times greater but also because its strength in modeling infrastructure above the ground is a natural fit with the projects below.
The press release stated that “Bentley Systems entered into a definitive agreement with investors led by Accel-KKR to acquire Seequent—a leader in software for geological and geophysical modeling, geotechnical stability, and cloud services for geodata management, visibility, and collaboration—for $900 million in cash, subject to adjustment, plus 3,141,361 BSY Class B shares.”
This could be Bentley’s largest investment acquisition ever. In its most recent company update of Spring 2019, Bentley cited spending nearly $1 billion on investment in R&D and acquisitions since 2014.
In a Bentley Systems Business Update aired March 12, Greg Bentley, Bentley Systems CEO, said “I think this is a most, and I might say, the most, propitious acquisition—notwithstanding the number of digits in the purchase price. And I’d like to literally illustrate the significance for our company and for Seequent, and for infrastructure engineering that this provides. I think this combination enables leapfrogging ahead not only immediately but through new advancement for many years to come in what I call deepening the potential of infrastructure digital twins.”
This is the second acquisition for Bentley this year. In February 2021 Bentley announced that it had acquired Australian civil construction software company E7 to expand SYNCHRO’s digital twin capability. The cost of the acquisition was not disclosed, but the press release stated that E7 has been deployed on more than 350 projects valued at more than AUD$50 billion over a decade.
Yes, $1 billion. Bentley’s total worth was close to $9 billion, so that is one heck of an investment. Apparently, Bentley sees something special in Seequent. We dug in further to get the scoop on the company.
Seequent, formerly ARANZ Geo, is based in Christchurch, New Zealand, and changed its name to Seequent to reflect its expansion beyond the mining and minerals industries into a broader range of global industries and markets.
Seequent is best known for its Leapfrog 3D geological modeling solutions. If Leapfrog sounds familiar, you could be thinking of the U.S. company with the same name that makes tablets for kids, but there is no relation.
Seequent’s Leapfrog was first introduced to the mining and minerals industry some 15 years ago to provide insight on geological data and to enable geologists and executives alike to confidently make critical time-sensitive investment and environmental decisions.
Using mathematical tools to derive and visualize 3D geological models from measured data and user interpretation, the software advancement was to cause a “leapfrogging” paradigm shift in the understanding of the Earth’s subsurface. It was increasingly adopted by geoscientists and researchers around the world to uncover and visualize valuable insights about environmental conditions and challenges.
The company has since launched Leapfrog versions for the civil engineering, geothermal energy and environmental industries, as well as other visualization and collaboration technologies.
Seequent’s network of offices spans Asia-Pacific, Africa, South America, North America and Europe, with customers based in over 100 countries. Its team of over 350 employees consists of geoscientists, engineers and researchers working in 18 locations around the world, with the common goal of creating innovative technology solutions for a better future.
Seequent’s original reason for existence was in a different domain altogether. Founded in the early 2000s, the company initially developed medical 3D imaging technology. In 2004 it first applied itself to geological science and flourished. It currently extends into the major areas of geoscience: mineral resources, infrastructure, energy, natural hazards, and water.
Today, Seequent software is used on large-scale projects globally, including road and rail tunnel construction, groundwater detection and management, geothermal exploration, subsea infrastructure mapping, resource evaluation and subterranean storage of spent nuclear fuel.
Seequent’s civil engineering customers include Arup and Mott MacDonald. Both Bentley and Seequent software were used extensively on the UK’s Crossrail 2 railway project. Arup was contracted by Transport for London (TfL) to develop a 3D ground model to identify geological hazards along the route, inform early design decisions, and provide the project with an invaluable geotechnical risk management tool.
Another remarkable infrastructure project where Seequent’s solutions are currently in the works is by Mott MacDonald. Mott MacDonald is working on five of 11 civil contracts in Singapore’s North South Corridor (NSC) project. In all, $8 billion in contracts have been awarded to take a massive three-lane highway underground and leave the surface open to public transport, greenery and cycle routes as part of Singapore’s goal to be “car-lite.”
Getting back to the acquisition, what does it mean for customers?
Maloney assured customers, “Users and accounts of Seequent, as a Bentley Company, can expect business as usual, with many product and commercial synergies eventually forthcoming. For my Seequent colleagues, I am confident that the future is in safe hands with like-minded Bentley Systems and our COO Graham Grant, so this presents a timely moment for me to announce my planned retirement. For all, our new larger scope presents a great opportunity for shared advancement.”
The plan is to eventually enhance Bentley’s current geotechnical engineering software portfolio, which includes PLAXIS, gINT, and OpenGround, by integrating Seequent’s solutions to support open digital workflows, from borehole and drillhole data to geological models and geotechnical analysis applications.
Bentley’s current offerings enable digital twins to incorporate what’s constructed “near surface,” including foundations, drainage facilities, buried utilities, tunnels and subsea structures. The addition of Seequent will enhance the Bentley offerings, enabling infrastructure digital twins to reach full subsurface depths, augmenting environmental resilience against flood, seismic, climate and water security threats.
It sounds like a good fit given that Seequent’s solutions are already commonly used in conjunction with Bentley’s software offerings.
Let’s look at what Seequent has to offer in more depth.
Seequent’s Leapfrog flagship product line provides 3D subsurface modeling, resource estimation, model auditability and tracking, and collaborative technologies so that industry professionals can tackle the most challenging problems in mining, energy, environmental and civil industries. It enables them to solve complex problems, manage risk, and make better decisions across the life cycle of projects.
The Leapfrog family includes Leapfrog Geo, Leapfrog Edge, Leapfrog Works, Leapfrog Geothermal and Leapfrog Viewer.
With Leapfrog Geo, geologist customers can integrate, communicate and interpret geoscience data with 3D modeling, so they can spend time on geology instead of data.
Seequent boasts that it is the “leading 3D geological modeling software for the mining and exploration industries.”
Leapfrog Edge provides users with resource estimation tools, such as domained estimation object with boundary analysis, variable orientation, resource reporting, and variography block interrogation, enabling them to combine the visual insights from Leapfrog 3D models.
Leapfrog Works is a 3D geological modeling solution designed for civil engineering and environmental projects so that users can gain subsurface insight. Leapfrog Works helps users turn complex data into clear, easy-to-interpret visualizations so they can better understand the data and communicate risks with stakeholders and make better decisions on civil engineering and environmental projects.
Features include dynamic 3D modeling, ground type classifications, interoperability, engineering designs, the ability to generate cross sections, contaminants extension and environmental insight.
Let’s take a peek at a few highlights of some of those features.
Engineering Designs
- Work directly with your engineering data in the geological context model.
- Rapidly visualize and understand detailed tunnel, motorway earthworks, bridge, dam and building foundation designs in geological context. Integrate designs, build surface topography, and create excavation volumes to inform design. Import alignments and create longitudinal sections fast.
Generate Cross Sections
- Make sections anywhere on site in minutes, instead of hours. Visualize from any angle; turn, rotate, and rapidly detect errors. Work intuitively with tools that help you advance your analysis and recognize correlations and trends. Update dynamically as the model evolves.
- Import historic sections and maps. Tailor outputs for reports, CAD or geotechnical analysis.
Interoperability
- Connect directly to Bentley’s OpenGround Cloud platform to access your single source of geotechnical data. Easily import and export geotechnical and geoenvironmental data to specialist software packages, including GIS data from Esri geodatabases and shapefiles, Map Info, or raster images and maps.
- Easily export in industry-recognized BIM formats and publish directly into the BIM environment. Integrate Drawing Exchange Format (DXF), Civil 3D, and AutoCAD Drawing (DWG) formats from Autodesk.
What Customers Are Saying About Leapfrog Works
“Leapfrog Works had a very positive impact on our understanding and communication of the geology. Using 3D visualization gave clarity and meaning and allowed us to effectively communicate to all stakeholders. This 3D visualization was particularly beneficial for those with no technical background.” —Graeme Jardine, APAC ME Technical Director Engineering Geology, Jacobs, Australia
“Leapfrog Works allows for a quick and user-friendly way for the geologist to directly develop a 3D model which can be examined and reviewed very quickly. It also allows for fast and elegant communication of the model to other team members and clients via cross-section layouts and slicing the model to display it in real-time.” —Andrew Little, Geotechnical Engineer, HDR
Getting back to the offerings, the last of the Leapfrog family is Leapfrog Viewer, a free desktop application that enables anyone to view scene files exported from Leapfrog modeling products.
Other solutions our readers might be interested in are described below—and this is just a few, as Seequent has many solutions.
Geosoft
Seequent acquired Geosoft in 2018. Geosoft is a solution for 3D earth modeling, subsurface and subsea unexploded ordnance (UXO) detection, integrated GIS mapping, and geoscience data management.
GeoStudio
With GeoStudio, users can solve diverse geotechnical engineering problems by integrating pore water pressure modeling with slope stability, stress and deformation models.
Seequent Central
Seequent Central data management provides users with the ability to manage, track and collaborate on geological data in a single, accessible environment.
Keep in mind that Seequent will operate as a stand-alone Bentley subsidiary upon closing of the acquisition, with Seequent’s current Chief Operating Officer Graham Grant succeeding retiring CEO Shaun Maloney and reporting to Bentley’s Chief Product Officer Nicholas Cumins.
Article updated March 24, 2021 with quote from Greg Bentley.