SAN FRANCISCO, July 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (“WCAS”), a leading private equity firm with a 45-year track record of building exceptional technology companies, announced today that it has made a majority investment in AIA Contract Documents (“ACD”), the leading risk management and workflow platform for the architecture, engineering and construction industry (“AEC”).
WCAS is partnering with The American Institute of Architects (“AIA”) and existing investor True Wind Capital, a private equity firm focused on partnering with management teams to build leading technology businesses in growing markets. Together with WCAS, both AIA and True Wind will continue as investors, board members and key strategic partners to ACD. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
For more than 135 years, ACD has been the gold standard for AEC legal documents and the industry’s trusted thought leader. Today, with its extensive blue-chip customer base, ACD’s industry standard contracts and forms facilitate transparency, improve efficiency, and reduce risk for the entire AEC ecosystem, including architects, contractors, engineers, attorneys, and owners. Furthermore, ACD has developed innovative technology solutions to support key contract workflows, and WCAS’s investment will enable further advancements in technology to drive ACD’s growth and better serve the AEC industry amid expanding risk, increasing digitization, and the emerging use of artificial intelligence.
Nick Macey, Chief Executive Officer of AIA Contract Documents, said, “We welcome WCAS as our new majority partner in ACD and look forward to the opportunities this investment creates to bring world-class products to solve risk management challenges for our customers. WCAS brings exceptional experience to our organization as we execute our growth strategy to create trust and mitigate risk for architects, contractors, engineers, owners and others across the AEC industry. We are also delighted to continue our important partnership with The American Institute of Architects and look forward to the continued support of True Wind, which they’ve provided to our team since their investment in ACD in 2020.”
Christopher Hooper, General Partner at WCAS, added, “We are very excited about our investment in ACD and look forward to supporting Nick and the leadership team to advance ACD’s technology while continuing its mission to reduce risk, improve efficiency, and increase transparency across the architecture, engineering and construction market. We believe there is a massive opportunity in the AEC industry and ACD is well-positioned to accelerate its growth and innovation.”
Stephen Ayers, interim Executive Vice President/Chief Executive Officer of AIA added, “We are thrilled that WCAS has made a majority investment in ACD. They have an excellent reputation, and we look forward to them bringing their decades of technology investing experience to ACD’s future. We believe this transaction will benefit AIA’s members as well as the broader AEC industry for decades to come and look forward to our continued strategic partnership with the company.”
Jamie Greene, Founding Partner at True Wind, and Sam Austin, Vice President at True Wind, added, “We are extremely pleased with the outcome of this investment, which represents another example of how True Wind creates value by nurturing its portfolio companies to develop sector leaders. We look forward to partnering with WCAS and AIA during this next phase of ACD’s journey.”
WCAS was advised by Cantor Fitzgerald and Ropes & Gray. AIA Contract Documents and True Wind Capital were advised by Houlihan Lokey, Piper Sandler, and Gibson Dunn. The American Institute of Architects was advised by Blank Rome.
About AIA Contract Documents
AIA Contract Documents (ACD) is the industry-standard platform for risk mitigation and collaboration across the construction lifecycle. Construction stakeholders rely on ACD to create trust, reduce risk, and accelerate project delivery. More than 40,000 architects, engineers, contractors, owners, and attorneys use ACD to draft, collaborate on, and certify over 1.5 million documents annually. Backed by the 140-year legacy of The American Institute of Architects, ACD continues to lead the industry with new agreements, forms, and software that set the standard for construction risk management.
About The American Institute of Architects
Founded in 1857, AIA consistently works to create valuable, healthy, secure, and sustainable buildings, neighborhoods, and communities. Through more than 200 international, state and local chapters, AIA advocates for public policies that promote economic vitality and public well-being. AIA provides members with tools and resources to assist them in their careers and business, as well as engaging civic and government leaders and the public to find solutions to pressing issues facing our communities, institutions, nation, and world. Members adhere to a code of ethics and conduct to ensure the highest professional standards. Learn more at aia.org.
About True Wind Capital
True Wind is a San Francisco-based private equity firm focused on partnering with management teams to build leading technology businesses in growing vertical markets in three primary sectors: Industrial Tech, Business Services & Compliance and Financial Services. True Wind seeks to maximize value creation and invests across the full range of transaction structures. Since its founding in 2015, True Wind has completed 16 platform investments and dozens of add-on acquisitions. Learn more about True Wind at https://truewind.com.
About Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe
WCAS is a leading U.S. private equity firm focused on two target industries: technology and healthcare. Since its founding in 1979, the firm’s strategy has been to partner with outstanding management teams and build value for its investors through a combination of operational improvements, growth initiatives and strategic acquisitions. The firm has raised and managed funds totaling over $33 billion of committed capital. For more information, please visit www.wcas.com.
WCAS Contacts:
Fran Higgins
212-893-9504
FHiggins@wcas.com
Greg Lau
212-893-9586
GLau@wcas.com
Jeffrey Taufield/Todd Fogarty
KekstCNC
212-521-4800
Jeffrey.taufield@kekstcnc.com / Todd.fogarty@Kekstcnc.com
American Institute of Architects Contact:
Frank Scanlan
202-626-7478
frankscanlan@aia.org
AIA Contract Documents Contact:
David Werner
864-714-7072
dwerner@aiacontracts.com
True Wind Contact:
Suzanne Hallberg
Rubenstein Communications
shallberg@rubenstein.com
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SOURCE Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe and AIA Contract Documents
