Seattle startup Klutch raises $8M to bring AI coworkers to construction sites

Archie handles zoning and permit reviews. Bob captures site data from texts and photos. Petra manages vendor scoring. Hailey helps with warranty issues.

These aren’t actual human workers — they’re AI agents built by Seattle startup Klutch designed to automate key workflows across residential and commercial construction.

Klutch emerged from stealth mode Thursday and announced an $8 million seed round led by Bling Capital and Bain Capital Ventures.

The company’s thesis: construction teams have huge amounts of data that isn’t being used, despite widespread adoption of project management software.

Klutch wants to use AI to not just generate suggestions but gather jobsite updates, flag issues, and surface vendor insights. The idea is to reduce construction delays, manual work, and data waste. The system also creates an ongoing company-wide knowledge vault based on information the agents gather.

“It’s basically like having a built-in data science team,” said CEO and co-founder Xu Rui, who grew up on construction sites and previously ran a property management company in Seattle.

Klutch deploys AI agents directly within familiar interfaces like WhatsApp, SMS, and email. Customers can use Klutch as a standalone construction management system or as a layer on top of existing tools.

The startup is launching at a time when construction companies face pressure from labor shortages, inflation, and other headwinds.

“As long as we’re able to prove value and help teams eliminate manual processes and claw back time throughout their day, we find that the construction industry has been very, very receptive,” Xu Rui said.

Ben Ling, founder and general partner at Bling Capital, said Klutch reminds him of a so-called “compound startup,” pointing to companies like Rippling, Palantir and Salesforce.

“Rather than just solving a single pain point, Klutch wants to solve multiple hair-on-fire problems for the construction industry,” Ling told GeekWire. “These products will leverage shared resources, technologies and market insights to improve the customer experience.”

The startup has been piloting its technology with Seattle-area customers and recently landed its first out-of-state client in Chicago.

The initial target market is mid-sized residential and commercial builders as well as general contractors managing roughly $20-to-$50 million in annual construction volume. 

Klutch competes against both incumbents such as Procure (which acquired Seattle startup Unearth Technologies) and newer construction tech startups using AI in various ways. Seattle startup studio Pioneer Square Labs recently teased a new construction-related company.

Rui and Klutch co-founder Tanin Na Nakorn met while leading ML-based products at Stripe. Klutch has a 12-person team that blends software engineering expertise with industry experience in structural and civil engineering.

Brick and Mortar Ventures, Original Capital, Anthology Fund, and angel investors from Autodesk and BuildZoom also participated in the seed round.