BQE Software, a cloud-based staple of architecture and engineering firms, has announced that it has secured a significant investment from Serent Capital, a growth-focused private equity firm headquartered in San Francisco.
Founded in 1995 by Shafat Qazi, an engineer by trade, and currently headquartered in the coastal Los Angeles County city of Torrance, BQE’s signature product is all-in-one accounting and bill software for professional service firms. Following BQE’s acquisition of ArchiOffice and EngineerOffice, the company made significant inroads within the AEC industry while expanding beyond its original flagship product, BillQuick, to also offer project accounting and human resource management software. In addition to its growing ubiquity in the architecture and engineering fields, BQE maintained its popularity among accountants, attorneys, business consultants, and IT specialists. Today, BQE is a partner of the American Institute of Architects and the American Society of Civil Engineers.
In 2017, the company, led by Qazi as CEO, transitioned to a wholly SaaS-based enterprise with the launch of BQE CORE, a cloud-based business management platform that “garnered the interest of leading private equity investors who recognized the market potential of BQE as a privately-held, debt-free company with offices located on three continents,” according to a press release.
“We have been watching BQE for years, and have been particularly impressed with their culture of innovation, combined with extraordinary customer satisfaction,” said Kevin Frick, partner at Serent Capital, in a statement. “While BQE is already an exceptionally successful company, we are delighted to be partnering with Shafat and the entire BQE team to amplify that success to further grow the company.”
Other AEC-related software companies in Serent Capital’s portfolio include Buildertrend (Omaha, Nebraska) and CoConstruct (Charlottesville, Virginia).
“I am pleased to have found an amazing partner with Serent Capital,” said Qazi. “It was extremely important that our investment partner share our vision, and have the experience in growing sales, marketing, and customer success teams that will enable us to achieve our goal of being the leading technology provider for professional service firms worldwide.”