Firmus AI makes AI-powered intelligent drawing review software and Nemetschek Group subsidiary Bluebeam has acquired the innovative software firm. Firmus AI is a pioneer in preconstruction AI design review and risk analysis.
Firmus AI
Bluebeam is already an AEC/O market leader in the construction market and heavily used for drawing reviews and project coordination. The acquisition of Firmus AI will add cutting-edge AI technologies to the Bluebeam workflow. Firmus AI offers two main products, AI-REVIEW and AI-MATCH, and also boasts Procore integration.
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Firmus AI-REVIEW can detect and mitigate design issues it sees in drawing documents. Advanced AI analysis detects incomplete designs, scope gaps, and discrepancies in drawing documents and reports them in a comprehensive but streamlined dashboard overview. For instance, if an architect’s drawings show that the bathroom walls are finished in paint and the interior designer’s documents indicate they are finished in tile, this is the kind of issue that Firmus AI can detect and report.
Firmus AI-REVIEW uses in-depth Computer Vision AI technologies to analyze construction documents uploaded to the cloud application.
Firmus-AI is shown here in this screenshot with matched-up overlay information (plans). Firmus’ AI technologies can match plans automatically between disciplines, phases, and scales, and will highlight differences, giving users more insight into the evolution and changes in drawings. But Firmus AI-REVIEW is where the real power in this company’s technologies matter as they smartly surface issues, quantify and organize them into easy-to-understand dashboards and provide a workflow for resolving scope gaps, missing information, conflicts and other issues.
Firmus AI-MATCH overlays and matches drawings with each other. This is similar to the overlay features found in tools like Bluebeam today but with unparalleled accuracy and more robust features. AI-MATCH can not only match up different views but can do so across scales, meaning comparison overlays between small-scale and large-scale drawings of the same information. It can also compare drawings between different disciplines and different phases. AI-MATCH complements AI-REVIEW and vice versa, offering a comprehensive set of de-risking features that will aid contractors.
Joining Bluebeam and Firmus-AI
“Drawings are the universal language of construction, and that’s where risk hides,” said Shir Abecasis, CEO of Firmus. “By joining Bluebeam, we’re placing Firmus’ drawing‑first intelligence exactly where millions of AEC professionals already work. Together we’ll help teams surface issues earlier, communicate them clearly, protect their reputation, and move projects forward with greater confidence and trust.”
“Bluebeam has always been about empowering teams to collaborate more effectively,” said Usman Shuja, CEO of Bluebeam. “Firmus brings an AI engine that understands 2D PDFs at a granular level – spotting scope gaps, inconsistencies and changes across disciplines and revisions. Integrating Firmus’ capabilities gives teams quality assurance that reduces reviews and the “stop-everything” moments late in a project. This is pivotal for a better informed and collaborative future in construction.”
“The acquisition of Firmus’ groundbreaking technology underscores our strong commitment to leading AI-driven innovation in the global AEC/O industry and will complement our AI-first strategy” says Yves Padrines, CEO of the Nemetschek Group. “Bluebeam is already the industry standard for construction collaboration in North America and is rapidly expanding its reach in EMEA and APAC. By combining the unique strengths of Bluebeam and Firmus AI, we will significantly accelerate our AI roadmap, drive even greater value for our customers and create synergies which will further accelerate our growth.”
Combining Bluebeam and Firmus-AI together enables:
- AI‑powered Review in the Workflow: Firmus scans and analyzes PDF drawings to provide insights with AI-generated markups, dashboards, and trackable issues within existing workflows.
- Smarter Overlays & Comparisons: Enhancement of Bluebeam’s existing Overlay and Compare features with high‑accuracy cross‑discipline and cross‑phase identification, surfacing mismatches and inconsistencies between, for example, architectural, structural, and MEP sheets.
- Speed & Scale: Automation of repetitive manual checks across hundreds of sheets, helping teams compress review cycles while improving document quality and completeness.
- Elevated Collaboration: With Bluebeam Studio as the central hub for real-time collaboration, teams are already connected around their drawings. Firmus will enrich this same shared Studio environment by identifying hidden risks in PDF drawings, transparently sharing unbiased findings, and closing gaps to prevent rework.
Bluebeam will begin bringing Firmus capabilities into its products in early 2026, with a preview of Firmus AI technology planned for Bluebeam Unbound, the company’s annual global event for AEC professionals, taking place September 30 – October 2 in Washington, D.C.
About Firmus AI
Firmus AI provides drawing‑first, preconstruction risk analysis for AEC teams, in the cloud. Its flagship products, AI‑REVIEW™ and AI‑MATCH™, read and interpret 2D PDF drawings to detect missing information, scope gaps, and cross‑discipline inconsistencies, delivering visual reports and prioritized issue tracking that streamline collaboration and reduce rework. Firmus is used by contractors, developers and designers to elevate document quality and clarity, mitigate financial risk early, and enhance stakeholders’ collaboration and trust.
Architosh Analysis and Commentary
We think Firmus-AI looks like an intelligent and smart addition to the Bluebeam portfolio of solutions. Bluebeam is already a gold standard and market-dominating software solution for 2D drawing and project management in AEC. It’s markup capabilities are regularly used by contractors to do quantity take-offs, scan for issues, process shop drawings, review drawings and process them for RFIs, and do multi-discipline team collaboration.
Firmus-AI’s technology definitely adds the ability to surface issues sooner in the process because contractors can simply upload 2D PDF drawings into Firmus’s tools to begin the human-led process and gain a head start on their common workflows outlined above. This technology is what has been missing at Bluebeam itself, so the Firmus-AI acquisition looks smart.
Comments on M&A
As a business addition to the Nemetschek Group, Firmus is reported to deliver annual recurring revenues (ARR) in the mid-single-digit million euro range by 2026. Those are rather low figures but decent numbers for a young software company. This is a tuck-in acquisition by a daughter company, so the usual metrics that the Nemetschek Group seeks for acquisition targets don’t really apply. The Group acquires companies with recognized leadership in their segment and demonstrated customer traction, prioritizing SaaS-based companies with established or soon-to-be strong margins.
Firmus-AI has technical leadership
Firmus has market-leading AI technologies in this specific segment of the market—analyzing 2D drawings and matching technologies that serve “drawing compare” functions which are useful in numerous AEC/O workflows.
While Firmus-AI is a “drawing-first” AI-based issues surfacing and drawing matching tool, it is not alone in the market entirely with this kind of technology. However, it seems to be far ahead and more mature with leading and large-scale contractor customers. Togal.ai and Bild.ai are two similar technology companies that exist but are more focused on quantification and seem far less mature.
