Planera raises $13.5M to help solve the gnarly problem of scheduling for construction contractors

Jagmeet Singh / 5:00 AM PDT • August 27, 2024

Read the article on TechCrunch

Planera, a construction-tech startup that offers scheduling and planning software for commercial construction projects, has raised $13.5 million in a new funding round.

General contractors typically use legacy software such as Oracle Primavera P6 to manage commercial construction projects. These solutions require technical knowledge and do not have an intuitive interface, but contractors still use them for their sophisticated projects that involve multiple milestones and last for some years. For small projects, they sometimes choose a general-purpose tool like Microsoft Project. Nonetheless, these tools are not designed with the requirements of a construction company in mind.

The San Jose-based startup mixes the best of two worlds by offering a standalone software platform that helps contractors schedule and plan their long and short-term projects using a digital whiteboard-like interface, supporting real-time collaborations. Scheduling is crucial for this industry, as construction contracts are quite prone to liquidated damages and have contractual obligations. Contractors need to meet even interim milestones sometimes, and they typically use multiple software to track progress.

With Planera, contractors can collaborate with other contractors involved in the project and get their work done through a single interface.

“The value of Planera is not just in creating the plan but also in being a great communication tool,” said Nitin Bhandari, co-founder and CEO of Planera, in an exclusive interview.

Planera allows general contractors to sketch their construction plans, analyze and optimize them, and schedule them based on their contract terms and obligations. It also includes integrations with commonly used platforms like AutoDesk and Procore so contractors sync their schedules without leaving those apps.

Bhandari told TechCrunch that the startup plans to expand the software to subcontractors as general contractors often work with subcontractors for specialty work, such as electrical and mechanical.

“As construction companies are modernizing other aspects of their business and getting the benefits of that, now they’re like, hey, we need to modernize all critical aspects of the business, and scheduling and planning definitely is now part of the focus,” he stated.

There are plenty of construction-related startups, but Planera’s founding team has had some success in the past. Bhandari previously co-founded mobile browser company Skyfire and screen-time app ZenScreen, which was later acquired by Life360, before starting with Planera in November 2021.

Bhandari got the idea to start Planera after meeting Saif Lodhi, who has been running a general contractor company, California Engineering Contractors, for about 30 years.

Initially, Lodhi asked Bhandari to help him modernize the contractor company. However, after spending a couple of months, Bhandari discovered that “scheduling was completely broken” in the construction industry. He brought in Erik Swenson who was the CTO at Skyfire for more than 10 years, to help him establish Planera to solve the problem.

Cut to today, Planera serves more than two dozen customers that use its software on over 500 live projects.

Planera’s all-equity Series A round was led by Sierra Ventures, along with participation from Sorenson Capital, Brick and Mortar Ventures, Prudence VC and Firebolt Ventures.

Bhandari told TechCrunch that 60% of its fresh funding would be used to invest more in sales and marketing to amplify the startup’s go-to-market. The remaining 40% would be deployed in R&D and product development. The startup also plans to integrate construction-specific AI to bring efficiency to scheduling and planning.

“We will be building our own data models and assistant-like functionality, which will start rolling out toward the end of the year and early part of next year,” he said.

Bhandari did not share Planera’s overall revenues, though he said revenues will be 5-8X higher compared to its Q4 of last year. The remote-culture startup also has a 30-person workforce across markets, including some in India’s Bengaluru, and plans to expand to 45 or 50 in the next six months.