Document Crunch, a local startup that makes artificial intelligence-powered software for construction companies, has raised $21.5 million in its latest round of funding, the company announced Thursday.
It is one of the biggest venture capital raises for a metro Atlanta company this year, according to an analysis of investments from data firm Crunchbase. It also highlights how investors are flocking to AI companies, such as ChatGPT and others.
“There’s so much going on right now with AI and how AI is going to change business and what the future looks like,” Josh Levy, co-founder and CEO of the Alpharetta-based startup, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There’s not a better example of how [specialized AI] is impacting an industry … and moving the needle today than Document Crunch.”
Credit: Mirtha Donastorg
Credit: Mirtha Donastorg
The company’s recent $21.5 million investment round was led by Titanium Ventures, the San Francisco-based venture capital firm that previously backed the parent company of Snapchat and cybersecurity company CrowdStrike.
The investment comes just months after Document Crunch raised $9 million, a rare feat for a startup. But Levy said they weren’t looking for more capital — investors actually approached them.
“Numerous investors that started tracking us had seen enough and thought it was time to really go build this into a big company, given the market demand and the reaction from our customers,” he said. “We never went to raise $1; we didn’t need the money, but we are going to greatly now increase the size of our team.”
Levy co-founded the company in late 2018 with Adam Handfinger and Adam Nadler. They built Document Crunch quietly before going to market in mid-2020.
The company uses AI to help commercial and industrial construction companies analyze contracts and documents to ensure they are complying with the agreed-upon terms for often highly complex projects worth millions or billions of dollars.
Projects often finish late or over budget, Levy said, and when they are behind schedule, somebody has to pay for those delays, and the person who is on the hook is determined by the contract.
“The contract is really the core of everything. I mean, every workflow — payments, notices, insurance — every workflow that project teams deal with actually relates to having to comply with the contract … and these other documents,” Levy said.
Document Crunch’s AI can flag potential risks before companies bid for a job, help negotiate a contract, let project teams know project timelines along with how to give notice, what to do if it rains and when a construction phase is compliant with the contract and they can move on.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
“This is really in a lot of ways automating, like, my life’s work,” Levy, who had worked as a construction attorney for more than a decade before co-founding Document Crunch, he said.
Levy did not disclose the company’s specific number of users, but he said hundreds of construction companies use the software, as well as insurance carriers, engineers, law firms and more.
Document Crunch has offices at the Avalon in Alpharetta and soon in Austin, Texas. It has about 60 employees and, with its latest infusion of cash, plans to hire more people in sales, marketing and engineering, Levy said.
Credit: Mirtha Donastorg
Credit: Mirtha Donastorg
The startup also was chosen as the top growth-stage company at this year’s Venture Atlanta.
Hundreds of tech workers, investors and entrepreneurs converge every year for Venture Atlanta, one of the largest venture conferences in the Southeast. Different stages of startups pitch to groups of investors, who then decide the most promising company of the bunch.
Levy said the honor from Venture Atlanta shows how his startup is well-regarded not just as a construction company but also as an AI software company.
“It shows how clear and big this opportunity is, even for folks that are not specifically focused on this vertical,” Levy said. “It’s not about being a construction tech company; it’s about being an AI company that’s found an incredible amount of success within this very big vertical, which is construction.”
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