Newforma acquires Lumi AI to add verifiable analytics to construction project data

Overview

Updated Oct 22

Newforma bought Toronto analytics startup Lumi AI on October 21, 2026, and will fold its plain-language engine into Vojo, the company's AI assistant for construction project data. The price was not disclosed.

Lumi's engine answers a question and shows its reasoning, so teams can check the result against the RFIs, submittals and emails Newforma has stored for two decades. The work starts with workflows where an answer can be checked against the project record. Newforma has not published a wider rollout schedule.

Why it matters

Firms hold decades of construction project data they rarely analyze. This deal puts verifiable AI answers on top of the industry's largest trove.

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Key Indicators

$3.7M

Lumi AI's seed funding

Raised in a 2025 seed round to expand its conversational analytics platform, before the acquisition.

4.5M

Newforma users

Professionals on Newforma platforms across the AECO industry.

20M

Projects on Newforma platforms

Projects globally supported by the company's information management systems.

20+ years

AECO project data held by Newforma

The structured record the Lumi engine will draw on for answers.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

People Involved

Peter Cannone

Chief executive, Newforma

Leading the Lumi integration

Ibrahim Ashqar

Co-founder and chief executive, Lumi AI

Continuing as Lumi's CEO after the acquisition

Tudor Boiangiu

Vice president of AI engineering, Newforma (former Lumi CTO)

Joins Newforma, leading the Lumi engineering team from Toronto

Organizations Involved

Newforma

Project and information management company

Acquirer; integrating Lumi's engine into its platforms

Boston-based software firm managing project information for architecture, engineering, construction, and owner (AECO) firms.

Lumi AI

Agentic analytics startup

Acquired by Newforma on October 21, 2026; team continues in Toronto with no layoffs planned

Toronto startup whose analytics engine turns plain-language questions into explainable, verifiable answers.

Timeline

2023 October 2026

4 events Latest: October 21st, 2026 · 3 weeks ago

Tap a bar to jump to that date

October 2026
Newforma announces Lumi AI acquisition
Latest Acquisition

Newforma acquires Lumi AI; Tudor Boiangiu joins as VP of AI engineering, team builds from Toronto.
October 21st, 2026
May 2026
Newforma introduces Vojo at Newforma World 2026
Product launch

Newforma debuts Vojo, its conversational AI assistant running on its agentic framework.
May 2026
2025
Lumi AI raises a $3.7M seed round
Funding

Lumi raised $3.7 million in a 2025 seed round to expand its conversational analytics platform, before Newforma acquired it.
2025
2023
Lumi AI founded in Toronto
Company founding

Ibrahim Ashqar and Tudor Boiangiu start Lumi AI to build a plain-language analytics engine.
2023

Scenarios

Vojo becomes the standard AI layer for project data

Likely Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: Newforma's own announcements and Construction Dive coverage

Lumi's engine integrates into Newforma Konekt's smart dashboards by mid-2027. Vojo surfaces RFI turnaround delays, warns when a submittal cycle drifts from a firm's baseline, and flags issue patterns that match past project failures. Adoption spreads across Newforma's base of firms.

Rivals match with their own explainable analytics

Possible Resolves by End of 2027

Discussed by: Construction Dive, noting Procore's Datagrid and DroneDeploy acquisitions

Procore and Autodesk, already buying AI firms, ship comparable plain-language project analytics. Newforma's edge narrows to the depth of its data rather than the capability itself. The exclusive arrangement Cannone described means Lumi can't be licensed to rivals to widen the moat.

Vojo moves from answering questions to taking action

Possible Resolves by Q2 2028

Discussed by: Newforma's stated AI strategy

Newforma has said Vojo is the entry point to an agentic experience capable of acting on a user's behalf, not just answering. Lumi's layer could extend to completing a submittal cycle, logging an RFI response, or closing out an issue. This would shift the product from analytics to workflow automation.

Historical Context

2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

June 2019

Salesforce acquires Tableau (2019)

Salesforce bought analytics firm Tableau for about $15.7 billion, embedding business intelligence directly into its customer relationship management platform.

Then

Salesforce gained a native analytics layer, letting its customers query their own data without separate BI tools.

Now

The deal set a pattern: data-rich platforms buy analytics engines rather than build them, making stored data answerable.

Why this matters now

Newforma is running the same play in construction — buying an analytics engine to layer over 20 years of stored project data.

January 2026

Procore acquires Datagrid (2026)

Construction software firm Procore bought vertical AI company Datagrid to embed AI into its platform, months before Newforma's Lumi deal.

Then

Procore gained AI capabilities it could fold into its construction management tools.

Now

The deal signaled a race among construction tech vendors to own AI layers over project data, which Newforma's move confirms.

Why this matters now

Same industry, same strategy, same year. The two acquisitions frame a direct competition between Newforma and Procore over AI-powered project insights.