Dive Brief:

• Oracle announced Thursday its plans to buy cloud-based construction management solutions provider Textura in a $663 million, all-cash acquisition, according to Tech Crunch.
• The computing technology giant said it will retain Textura's employees and create a new business unit, Oracle Engineering and Construction, for it and its existing project management software, Primavera.
• The purchase of Textura — which boasts industry giants like PCL Construction and Clark Construction in its client base — is expected to close by the end of the year, according to Fortune.

Dive Insight:

Oracle’s Mike Sicilia said in a statement that the new business unit will boast "the most comprehensive set of cloud services in the (construction) industry" and that its dual product cloud strategy will improve connectivity, help reduce budget overruns and minimize project inefficiencies. Textura, which operates on a pay-per-use model rather than a flat fee arrangement, handles more than $3.4 billion a month in payments for more than 6,000 projects and more than 85,000 users, according to Fortune.

Textura went public in 2013 and is at the forefront of the recent wave of construction technology startups. Companies like Textura and PlanGrid — which lets users track changes to construction drawings in the field and nabbed a $40 million investment last year — are disrupting the notoriously low-tech construction industry. Other industry startups scoring major investments include Fieldwire, a construction project mobile and web platform services firm that snagged a $6 million investment last year, and bid management startup BuildingConnected, which raised $8.5 million in November. Software firm Uptake, backed by Caterpillar, also drew attention last year when it was named Forbes’ 2015 hottest startup. 

Textura also has a competitor in Procore, another cloud-based project management software company. After a $50 million investment, Bessemer Venture Partners valued the company earlier this year at approximately $500 million, closing in on Textura’s market capitalization, estimated at $589 million at the time. This month, Procore aimed to grow its presence in the industry with the introduction of its Construction Health Indicator, which provides daily, real-time construction industry market information.