How Speckle Makes Money: Unveiling Our Business Model

One question that often comes our way is, "How does Speckle make money?". It's a valid question, especially considering that we're an open-source company.

This blog explains our business model and how we sustain and grow our operations. Spoiler alert: it’s not a secret or a new concept!

Open Source at Our Core

At Speckle, our mission is to make AEC better. We believe genuine progress and advancement come from radically changing the underlying technologies and infrastructure.

Our open-source foundation empowers developers and companies globally, shaping a community-driven approach to innovation. This ensures rapid development, transparency, and trust. We enable you to break free from vendor lock-in, giving you complete control over your data and workflows.

Speckle Cloud: Your Data Hub

While our core software remains open source, we generate revenue through our Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings. This model is proven and effective, as demonstrated by tech leaders such as Databricks, MongoDB, and GitLab.

Our primary SaaS product is Speckle Cloud, which you have probably already used via app.speckle.systems or from a different address if your organisation is an Enterprise customer.

Speckle Cloud offers a robust, scalable, and secure environment for hosting, managing, and collaborating on AEC projects. Here’s how it adds value, compared to self-hosting, and generates revenue:

1. Hosting and Infrastructure: Offload the complexities of infrastructure management to us. Speckle Cloud provides reliable, high-performance hosting, server maintenance and scaling, ensuring your projects run smoothly without downtime.
2. Enterprise Features: While the open-source version of Speckle is powerful enough to break you free from the lock-in of software vendor monopolies and streamline your workflows and productivity, Speckle Cloud’s tiers offer enhanced features tailored for individuals, teams, and large organisations. These include Workspaces, Automate, advanced permissions, user management capabilities, increased collaboration, and regional data sovereignty.
3. Security and Compliance: We prioritise data security, which is crucial for the AEC industry. Speckle Cloud ensures that your data is secure and complies with industry standards. Our enterprise-grade security features include encryption, access controls, and regular security audits. Speckle Cloud will soon be ISO 27001 and SOC2 compliant.
4. Support and Services: Access premium support services, including dedicated account managers, priority support, and tailored training programs, both virtual and on-site.

We're excited to announce our new Free, Team, and Enterprise tiers towards the end of the year. Interested? Send us a note or join us at SpeckleCon ‘24 to learn more!

Proven Success with Speckle’s Paying Customers

We already have a growing base of enterprise customers who validate our model. Their trust in Speckle Cloud underscores our ability to deliver value and reliability without vendor lock-in.

You can read more about how Aurecon, a leading global engineering consultancy, applied Speckle in various projects or hear the story of implementing Speckle at scale.

Or check out how Royal HaskoningDHV, an independent international engineering consultancy, partnered with Rijksvastgoedbedrijf (RVB), the Dutch Government’s real-estate agency, used Speckle in its ambitious Monarch IV project. Speckle was used to pioneer a data-driven design approach, achieving a 30% reduction in material use and enhanced cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Learning from the Best

Our approach mirrors successful strategies from tech giants:

• Databricks: Offers open-source analytics with managed cloud services, transforming their foundation into a profitable business.
• MongoDB: Monetises its open-source database through the Atlas cloud service, offering managed hosting and additional features.
• GitLab: Combines a free, open-source DevOps platform with paid plans for enhanced features and support.

These success stories guide us in providing superior products and services while maintaining our community-centric ethos. In fact, some of the largest IPOs and acquisitions of the last years were from OSS startups (a16z, Forbes).

Backed by Venture Capital (VC)

Our journey is supported by incredible partners such as Foundamental, Addition, Frontline, and Matrix. Venture capital has fuelled our growth and innovation. It has allowed us to focus on developing unique products without early financial constraints.

Our VC partners share our vision of transforming the AEC industry through open-source technology and providing us with the resources and expertise to achieve our goals.

Speckle’s Vision Moving Forward

Speckle is more than just a company; it's a movement towards a more open, collaborative, and innovative AEC industry.

Our SaaS model allows continuous investment in cutting-edge technology, community support, and expanding our offerings and an outstanding team.

We’re committed to transparency and sustainability. By choosing Speckle Cloud, you contributed to upgrading your tech stack and supporting the ongoing development of the open-source ecosystem that benefits everyone.

Thank you for joining us on this journey. Together, we can reshape the future of AEC, one Speckle version at a time.

Are you interested in our new Free, Team and Enterprise plans? They will be available towards the end of the year. Send us a note to hear all about it!

What’s Next?

Join us at SpeckleCon, where you and your team can present projects you are proud of. Showcase how you leveraged Speckle's connected and collaborative aspect, and let’s shape the future of AEC together.

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