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GE Digital <\/a>announced today it was buying ServiceMax<\/a>, a cloud-based field service management company, for $915 million. GE Ventures\u00a0had been an investor in the company as part of the $82 million Series F round in 2015.<\/p>\n The two companies have more in common than you might think. GE is building the Predix Platform, on top of which it hopes companies will build applications that take advantage of sensor data coming off of Internet of Things-connected devices. GE has made a huge bet on the Industrial Internet of Things, using data on huge machines like MRI machines, wind turbines and airplane engines to give customers the data they need to proactively maintain these mega systems.<\/p>\n In fact, when\u00a0I spoke to\u00a0Athani Krishnaprasad, co-founder and VP of product at ServiceMax\u00a0recently, we talked about a future vision where sensors on IoT devices fed information to companies, allowing them to build entirely new business models. In\u00a0Krishnaprasad\u2019s vision for his company, a hospital would subscribe to an MRI machine instead of buying it and pay for guaranteed up time instead of the physical hardware.<\/p>\n It would be up to the vendor to proactively monitor the device and keep it up and running. Data coming from sensors would let the company know when a part was about to break or that it was time for regular maintenance. He called this \u201coutcome-based services.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnalyzing the data to change business\u00a0process to gain efficiencies or service customers better is a big win,\u201d Krishnaprasad explained.<\/p>\n And as GE transforms\u00a0from a company simply selling those big machines to one that fits so well with ServiceMax\u2019s future world view, the two companies coming together makes so much sense.<\/p>\n \u201cThis acquisition builds upon our ongoing efforts to enhance our overall technology stack around the Predix platform and advance our Industrial Internet vision,\u201d Bill Ruh, GE Digital CEO said in a statement. \u201cImproved productivity is critical for the Industrial Internet and digitizing field services is a cornerstone of a successful digital industrial strategy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n ServiceMax has raised over $200 million since it was founded in 2007. It would seem on its face, that getting $915 million for the company is a pretty decent return for its investors.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n