Bentley Systems, Incorporated (BSY): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

When you look at the world's critical infrastructure-from the bridges you drive on to the utility networks powering your home-do you ever wonder what software is behind the design and operation? Bentley Systems, Incorporated is the infrastructure engineering software company that is defintely a core answer, projecting full-year 2025 total revenues in the range of $1,461 million to $1,490 million, with a highly dependable Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR) of $1,405.2 million as of September 30, 2025. This nearly $13.14 billion market cap firm, founded in 1984 by five Bentley brothers, has quietly cornered the market on digital twin solutions, making it a powerful, trend-aware play in the global infrastructure boom. But how does a company that makes software for engineers generate 92% of its revenue from subscriptions, and what is its long-term strategy for dominating the $29.8 billion infrastructure engineering software market?

Bentley Systems, Incorporated (BSY) History

You're looking for the foundational story behind Bentley Systems, Incorporated, and how it grew from a family startup into a public company driving the infrastructure digital twin market. The direct takeaway is this: Bentley Systems was founded by five brothers in 1984 as a software company focused on CAD for infrastructure, and its trajectory was fundamentally reshaped by its shift to a subscription model and its 2020 IPO, which fueled its current focus on AI and the $1.41 billion in Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR) it hit in Q3 2025.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

1984

Original location

Exton, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Founding team members

The company was founded by the five Bentley brothers. The key named founders are Keith A. Bentley, Barry J. Bentley, Raymond B. Bentley, and Greg Bentley.

Initial capital/funding

The company was initially self-funded and private for 36 years. Its first commercial product, PseudoStation, was introduced in 1985 and was priced at $7,943, a figure derived from polling potential users on what they would pay.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

The company's evolution is a defintely clear path from computer-aided design (CAD) software to a comprehensive infrastructure engineering platform. This table highlights how they moved from a single product to a global, public-facing software giant.

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The biggest inflection points weren't just product launches; they were strategic shifts that changed how Bentley Systems, Incorporated did business and how it mapped the market. These decisions are why the company is projecting total revenues between $1,461 million and $1,490 million for the full year 2025.

• The Shift to Subscription Licensing: Moving away from the traditional perpetual license model was a massive, industry-defining move. By Q3 2025, subscription revenues accounted for 92% of total revenues, making the business model highly resilient and predictable.
• The Digital Twin Focus (iTwin Platform): The company made an early, aggressive bet on digital twins-virtual representations of physical assets. This strategy positioned them to capture value across the entire infrastructure lifecycle, from design (MicroStation) and construction (ProjectWise) to operations and maintenance (AssetWise).
• The 2020 IPO: After nearly two decades of considering and then withdrawing an IPO, going public in 2020 provided the liquidity and acquisition currency needed to compete at the highest level. This move secured the capital to fund the expansion of their cloud offerings.
• The 2025 AI Integration: The most recent transformative moment is the aggressive move into Infrastructure AI. The launch of new AI-powered applications like OpenSite+ and the Infrastructure AI Co-Innovation Initiative in 2025 signal a major commitment to using AI to break the iron triangle of time, cost, and quality in engineering projects.

To be fair, the company's long-term success is also tied to its consistent commitment to research and development, re-investing approximately 20% of revenues back into R&D. You can dive deeper into the strategic intent behind these moves by reviewing the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Bentley Systems, Incorporated (BSY).

Bentley Systems, Incorporated (BSY) Ownership Structure

Bentley Systems, Incorporated's (BSY) ownership structure is a unique blend of institutional investment and significant control retained by the founding Bentley family, which gives insiders a powerful voice in company strategy. This dual structure means that while the company is publicly traded, key decisions are heavily influenced by a small group of long-term stakeholders.

Bentley Systems' Current Status

Bentley Systems is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol BSY. The company went public in September 2020, but the initial public offering (IPO) was structured to ensure the Bentley family and related entities maintained a substantial, controlling interest in the business.

This structure, often achieved through dual-class shares or other governance mechanisms, allows the company to access public capital while shielding the long-term vision from short-term market pressures. For the 2025 fiscal year, the company reported strong financial health, with third-quarter revenue hitting $375.55 million and Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) reaching $1.405 billion. This financial performance is underpinned by a stable, insider-controlled governance model.

Bentley Systems' Ownership Breakdown

The company's ownership is divided primarily among three groups: insiders (the Bentley family and executives), large institutional investors (like BlackRock, Inc. and Vanguard Group Inc), and the general public. The high insider ownership is the most critical factor for understanding the company's governance and long-term stability.

Aktiengesellschaft Siemens is a particularly notable shareholder, holding approximately 11.72% of the company, which is a significant stake for a public company. You can dive deeper into which funds are buying and selling shares by Exploring Bentley Systems, Incorporated (BSY) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

Bentley Systems' Leadership

The leadership team is a mix of founding family members and seasoned executives brought in from major technology companies, ensuring both continuity and modern operational expertise. The transition of the CEO role in 2024 solidified a new generation of leadership while maintaining the family's oversight.

The key figures steering the company as of November 2025 are:

• Nicholas Cumins: Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He was promoted to this role in July 2024, succeeding Greg Bentley.
• Greg Bentley: Executive Chair of the Board of Directors. He transitioned from the CEO role in July 2024 to focus on board-level strategy and investor relations.
• Werner Andre: Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He manages the company's financial strategy and reporting.
• Keith A. Bentley: Executive Vice President (EVP) and Board Director. As one of the founding brothers, he maintains a key technical and governance role.
• Julien Moutte: Chief Technology Officer (CTO). He directs the company's technological advancements and product innovation.

This leadership structure, with a new CEO driving day-to-day operations and the founding family in the Executive Chair and Board roles, provides a clear line of authority and a defintely stable strategic direction.

Bentley Systems, Incorporated (BSY) Mission and Values

Bentley Systems, Incorporated's core mission is centered on empowering infrastructure professionals to build a more resilient world, moving far beyond just selling software licenses. This commitment to advancing global infrastructure for a better quality of life forms the cultural DNA that guides its 5,000+ colleagues and its strategic direction for fiscal year 2025.

Given Company's Core Purpose

The company's purpose is remarkably clear for a tech firm: to advance infrastructure for better quality of life. This is what drives the digital twin technology they champion-creating virtual models of physical assets to enable better decision-making from design through operation. Honestly, a simple purpose helps keep a company focused, especially when its 2024 subscription revenues hit $1.2234 billion, up 13.2% from the prior year.

It's all about making the world's roads, bridges, and utilities more efficient and sustainable. That's the defintely big picture.

Official mission statement

The formal mission statement is precise, tying their technology directly to the outcome for their users and the public good. It's an active statement, not a passive one.

• We empower people to design, build, and operate better and more resilient infrastructure through the adoption of our intelligent digital twin solutions.

This mission breaks down into three clear areas of focus: empowering professionals, improving infrastructure quality and resilience, and leveraging intelligent digital twin (virtual representation of a physical asset) solutions to do it. For instance, their software is used across diverse sectors like transportation, water, and power, which is why analysts forecast $0.88 earnings per share for the 2025 fiscal year. You can see how this mission translates into financial health by reading Breaking Down Bentley Systems, Incorporated (BSY) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

Vision statement

While a single, universally published vision statement can be elusive, Bentley Systems' actions and stated aims paint a clear picture of their long-term goal. They envision a world where infrastructure projects are more efficient, sustainable, and resilient through digital transformation.

• Advancing digital workflows across the entire infrastructure lifecycle.
• Leveraging digital twins for real-time monitoring, simulation, and analysis of asset performance.

This vision is underpinned by core values like being Innovative and Responsible, which means applying technology to deliver creative solutions while holding themselves accountable for their promises. They are committed to their customers' success, so they put innovation first.

Given Company slogan/tagline

Bentley Systems uses a few phrases to quickly communicate its identity, but the most direct and recurring one is its professional descriptor.

• The infrastructure engineering software company.

This tagline is highly specific and authoritative, immediately positioning them as the leader in a crucial niche. It's a no-nonsense statement that reflects their Q3 2025 revenue of $375.55 million, showing they are focused on execution. Plus, the company's values-like being Connected and Motivated to make an impact-ensure that this technical focus always ties back to improving the quality of life through better infrastructure.

Bentley Systems, Incorporated (BSY) How It Works

Bentley Systems operates by providing comprehensive software solutions for the entire lifecycle of infrastructure assets-from design and construction to operations. The company's core value proposition is enabling engineers and owner-operators to create and manage 'digital twins' of physical infrastructure, which helps them make better decisions, reduce project risk, and improve asset performance.

You can think of it like this: if a major engineering firm is designing a new bridge or a city is managing its water grid, Bentley Systems provides the digital blueprints and the real-time data platform to make that work happen efficiently. The business model is heavily subscription-based, which delivers predictable, recurring revenue. In fact, for the full year 2025, the company projects total revenues between $1,461 million and $1,490 million, with subscription revenues driving much of that growth.

Bentley Systems' Product/Service Portfolio

The company organizes its offerings around the infrastructure lifecycle, but the key to their near-term strategy is the shift to cloud-connected applications and digital twins.

Bentley Systems' Operational Framework

The operational framework is built on a high-margin, recurring revenue model that funds continuous innovation, especially in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud services.

• Subscription-First Model: The company generates the vast majority of its income-over 90% of total revenue in 2024-from subscriptions, which provides a stable, predictable cash flow stream. This consistency allows for long-term strategic planning.
• Cloud-Native Development: New applications like OpenUtilities Substation+ and SYNCHRO+ are built on the cloud-based Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Bentley Systems, Incorporated (BSY). Bentley Infrastructure Cloud. This shift moves customers from desktop licenses to a more flexible, usage-based consumption model.
• AI-Driven Workflow Automation: Research and development is heavily focused on embedding generative AI and machine learning directly into core engineering and simulation workflows, addressing challenges like project delays and cost overruns. This means the software is defintely getting smarter at suggesting designs and flagging issues.
• Strategic Acquisitions: Bentley Systems consistently uses programmatic acquisitions to fill technology gaps and expand its market reach, integrating these new capabilities into its core platforms to enhance the digital twin ecosystem.

Here's the quick math: The 2025 financial outlook projects an adjusted operating income margin of approximately 28.5%, which shows the inherent profitability of this software-as-a-service (SaaS) operational structure.

Bentley Systems' Strategic Advantages

The company's success is rooted in its deep domain expertise and its forward-looking platform strategy, which is now heavily focused on AI and data stewardship.

• Digital Twin Leadership: Bentley Systems is a recognized leader in the infrastructure digital twin space, offering a comprehensive platform that connects modeling, reality capture, and analytics across the entire asset lifecycle. They are creating the open platform for the built and natural environment.
• Trustworthy AI Integration: They are aggressively deploying production-ready AI tools, contrasting with the industry's cautious approach. A key differentiator is their commitment to data stewardship, ensuring client data is not used to train their AI models without explicit permission, which builds trust with large owner-operators.
• High Recurring Revenue and Cash Flow: The high percentage of recurring revenue (ARR growth rate is expected to be 10.5% to 12.5% in 2025) provides a stable base for investment, and the projected free cash flows of $415 million to $455 million in 2025 give them significant financial flexibility. That's a strong position to be in.
• Infrastructure-Specific Focus: Unlike broader CAD competitors, Bentley Systems is hyper-focused on infrastructure-transportation, water, energy, and cities-giving them a specialized and deep feature set that is difficult for generalist software to match.

The immediate implication is that their early adoption and integration of contextualized AI into the Bentley Infrastructure Cloud is giving early adopters a significant competitive advantage in project execution.

Bentley Systems, Incorporated (BSY) How It Makes Money

Bentley Systems, Incorporated generates the vast majority of its revenue by providing subscription-based software solutions for infrastructure engineering, essentially selling access to its specialized modeling, simulation, and project delivery tools. This high-quality recurring revenue stream gives the business exceptional visibility and stability in its financial forecasting.

Bentley Systems' Revenue Breakdown

As of the third quarter of 2025 (Q3 2025), the company's revenue is heavily concentrated in its subscription model, which is the core of its business strategy and financial health.

Subscription revenue is the financial engine, growing 14% year-over-year in Q3 2025, which reflects the successful transition to a cloud-centric, recurring revenue model. Perpetual Licenses, which are one-time sales, are intentionally a small part of the mix and are expected to remain approximately flat for the full year 2025. Services revenue, which includes professional services and training, is also expected to be approximately flat for the full year 2025, though it saw a slight 2% decline in Q3 2025.

Business Economics

The economics of Bentley Systems are those of a high-margin, sticky software-as-a-service (SaaS) business, focused on retaining and expanding relationships with a concentrated base of large infrastructure clients. The core pricing strategy is centered around its subscription model, which includes its Enterprise 365 (E365) program for large accounts and Virtuosity for small and medium businesses (SMBs).

• Recurring Revenue Focus: The goal is to maximize Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR), which hit $1.41 billion as of Q3 2025. This high ARR figure shows strong revenue predictability.
• High Gross Margin: The business enjoys an excellent gross margin, averaging around 81.2% over the last year. Here's the quick math: for every dollar of software sold, over 81 cents are left to cover operating expenses and profit.
• Net Retention Rate: The dollar-based net retention rate was 109% in Q3 2025. This means existing customers are not only staying, but they are also spending 9% more on average year-over-year, which is a powerful driver of organic growth.
• Pricing Power: The company's specialized software, which is critical to the design and operation of infrastructure, gives it significant pricing power. It's hard to swap out a core engineering platform once a firm is invested.
• Cost Structure Shift: The company has seen a notable shift in its cost structure, with real estate costs declining since pre-pandemic times, while technology and support function costs have risen, reflecting the shift to cloud and hybrid work models.

You can see the long-term commitment to its users and the infrastructure sector in its Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of Bentley Systems, Incorporated (BSY).

Bentley Systems' Financial Performance

The company's financial performance in 2025 shows consistent execution against its strategy of driving recurring revenue and expanding margins, despite global economic uncertainties. Total revenues for the full year 2025 are projected to be between $1.461 billion and $1.490 billion. That's defintely a solid target for the infrastructure software space.

• Profitability: The Adjusted Operating Income less Stock-Based Compensation (AOI less SBC) margin, a key metric for software companies, was 27.7% in Q3 2025. Management is guiding for a full-year 2025 AOI less SBC margin of approximately 28.5%, a commitment to annual margin expansion.
• Operating Margin: The reported Operating Margin for Q3 2025 was 22.5%, an increase of 2 percentage points year-over-year, showing improved operational efficiency.
• Cash Generation: Free Cash Flow (FCF) for the full year 2025 is expected to be robust, forecasted between $430 million and $470 million. This strong cash flow supports dividends, share repurchases, and strategic acquisitions.
• Net Income: For Q3 2025, the company reported a non-GAAP profit of $0.27 per share, meeting analyst consensus.

What this estimate hides is the impact of foreign currency fluctuations, which is why the company often reports constant currency growth figures alongside GAAP numbers to give you a clearer picture of the underlying business performance. Still, the trend of double-digit ARR growth and margin expansion is a clear indicator of business health.

Bentley Systems, Incorporated (BSY) Market Position & Future Outlook

Bentley Systems, Incorporated holds a leading position in the specialized infrastructure engineering software market, poised for continued growth driven by the global push for digital twins and AI integration. The company projects strong performance for the 2025 fiscal year, anticipating total revenues between $1,461 million and $1,490 million, a clear sign of sustained demand in the infrastructure sector.

Competitive Landscape

In the broader computer-aided design (CAD) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) space, Bentley Systems competes with much larger software generalists, but it maintains a powerful, specialized niche in infrastructure. The BIM Design market alone is valued at $6.5 billion, where Bentley Systems is a significant player, particularly in complex civil engineering projects.

Opportunities & Challenges

The company's future trajectory hinges on capitalizing on the digital transformation of infrastructure, but it must navigate geopolitical and execution risks. The focus on Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) growth, projected at 10.5% to 12.5% for 2025, shows a healthy, predictable business model, but this growth is not uniform globally.

Industry Position

Bentley Systems is defintely the infrastructure engineering software company, not a general CAD vendor, and its position is cemented by deeply embedded solutions for asset owners and engineering firms. Subscriptions are the backbone, accounting for about 91% of total revenue, which provides high revenue visibility and stability.

The company's strategic initiatives are clearly focused on moving beyond just design software to managing the entire infrastructure lifecycle, which is where the real value is. This is why their dollar-based net retention rate for subscriptions is strong, hitting 109% in Q2 2025-it means existing customers are spending more each year.

• Drive larger enterprise adoption through the Enterprise 365 (E365) subscription model, which accounted for 42% of total subscription revenue in 2024.
• Prioritize AI for programmatic consumption (A(P)I), moving from attended consumption to automated workflows.
• Maintain operational excellence, targeting an Adjusted Operating Income (AOI) margin of approximately 28.5% for 2025.

For a deeper dive into the numbers underpinning this outlook, you should read Breaking Down Bentley Systems, Incorporated (BSY) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors. They have a massive Total Addressable Market (TAM) of $29.8 billion, so their current revenue of around $1.49 billion for 2025 means they still have a long runway for growth.