Pune-based CAD/CAM/CAE/PLM services and software company Neilsoft is spreading its wings. Last year, it acquired a majority stake in Triplan-AG Technology services, based out of Germany. Now it has acquired (press release 1, press release 2)US-based CADFORCE, which provides outsourced AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) services. In other words, I believe it is a group of architects, interior designers, draftsmen for hire. Or more formally:

Today, CADFORCE, headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, has more than 400 clients located in 36 states, including many of the world’s foremost architectural firms, homebuilders, engineering and construction firms. Regional offices and production facilities are strategically located in 10 cities across the globe, and our workforce and now numbers more than 200 architects, drafting supervisors, draftsmen and technologists. [They have] completed more than 1500 projects ranging from single family homes to high-rise office buildings and complexes, multibillion dollar mixed-use developments and major university, municipal and hospitality projects.

Neilsoft gains a strong presence in the US, and people who understand the market well, and also gets access to a large number of customers for its software and other technology services in the same market segment. CADFORCE gains the backing of a now international company, and probably a needed infusion of money, for extra stability in these troubling financial times.

Interestingly, Neilsoft’s acquisitions are happening in spite of the fact that Neilsoft is not a publicly traded company. Founded in 1993 by Ketan Bakshi, it received one round of funding, worth $1.5 million in 2000, and another round of $7 million in 2007.

Like any services company worth its salt, Neilsoft also claims to have a products business. Specifically, it sells:

• DiEdifice — a 3D design application used for pressure die casting die design, by tool rooms, die casting design centers and die-casters. It analyzes casting geometry and designs a Gating System (gates, gate-runners, runners, overflows and vents) based on user inputs and its own design decisions.
• FlowSim — a simulation tool to help the die designer validate die-cavity filling through the designed gating system design.
• e-PDLM (Engineering-Product Defect Lifecycle Management)— Neilsoft’s enterprise-wide web-based collaborative software solution to systematically identify, record, review, track, resolve and analyze defects / issues arising in a project.
• Cabin Design Application — an intelligent 3D modeling software for designing accommodation areas for different kinds of ships. This helps achieve reduction in accommodation area design time.
• Outfit Steel Module — a modeling tool for creating auxiliary steel structures. It reduces outfitting steel design time by automating the design process for creating ladders, staircase, walkways, masts and equipment foundations.

In general, Pune has a very strong presence in the CAD (Computer Aided Design), CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing), CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) and PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) spaces. In addition to services (which pretty much all the major services providers, from Geometric to Persistent) provide in these spaces, Pune also has development centers for all the major software providers in this space, like AutoDesk (makers of AutoCAD) and Catia. If you, or someone you know, understands this space (or wants to understand this space) and would like to cover the news, technology, people, events, companies and organizations in this space for PuneTech as an editor, please get in touch with us.