contractors
(8)
Thimble made insurance fit the job. Then the jobs got bigger.
A drone flight supplied the first clue: work can last an hour, while insurance expects a year. Thimble built a business in the gap - and grew into a broader small-business insurance platform.
GlobalFair and the Case for Choosing One Aisle
It began as a cross-border marketplace for seven kinds of goods. Then its founders discovered that the valuable part was knowing exactly what would arrive at the job site.
Crunch’s lesson in scale: keep the accountants close
The UK accounting company pairs software with people who can explain the numbers. Its experiment with outside accountants shows why that second half deserves as much attention as the code.
Vobi
Vobi is a Sao Paulo-based, all-in-one project and construction management platform for small and midsize construction businesses across Latin America - contractors, remodelers, architects and engineering firms. It rolls estimating, budgeting, scheduling, a client portal, purchasing and payments (Vobi Pay) into one system, with AI agents for finance, procurement and work diaries. Backed by Y Combinator (W22) and MAR Ventures, the platform says it manages over R$5 billion in construction projects annually.
Downstream
Downstream is a Dallas-based online marketplace that lets construction contractors rent equipment, book waste hauling, and order jobsite services - dumpsters, porta potties, scissor lifts, forklifts, fencing, mobile offices - from a nationwide network of vetted suppliers. The platform delivers real-time pricing, multiple competing quotes per job, consolidated billing, Net 30 payment terms, and AI agents that read a contractor's rollout sheets or invoices to procure automatically. Founded in 2022 (originally as Trash Gurus), the company raised an $8M Series A in November 2025 co-led by Brick & Mortar Ventures and Moneta Ventures.
Bobyard
Bobyard is a San Francisco AI company that automates construction takeoffs and estimates. Its proprietary computer-vision and NLP models read blueprints and automatically count symbols and measure areas and lengths, cutting bid-prep time by more than half. Founded in 2023 by Michael Ding, the company started with landscaping - one of construction's least-digitized trades - and has expanded into electrical, finishes, mechanical, and plumbing. It raised a $35M Series A led by 8VC in December 2025.
BlueTape
BlueTape is a payments and financing platform built for the construction industry. It gives material suppliers, manufacturers, dealers and contractors the tools larger firms take for granted - trade credit, net terms up to 120 days, buy-now-pay-later for building materials, automated accounts receivable, factoring, early-payment programs and lines of credit. The goal is simple: help small and midsize construction businesses get paid faster, sell more, and finance the materials they need without the paperwork and cash-flow crunch that has long defined the trade.
Kojo
Kojo is the construction industry's leading materials procurement and management platform, connecting office teams, field crews, warehouses, and vendors on a single AI-powered system. Founded in 2018 by Maria Davidson (formerly known as Agora Systems), the San Francisco-based company has powered more than 10,000 construction projects across 47 states and processes billions in annual orders for trade and self-perform general contractors.