TracFlo

The construction tech industry is scorching hot right now.

According to CB Insights, construction tech startups raised a record $1.4 billion in 2020. M&A activity also broke records, as deals involving startups totaled 158.

TracFlo is targeting this market with its predictive financial management app. Positioned at the intersection of project management software and accounting solutions, this platform captures construction-related data — including project timelines, budgets, and work orders — and helps project managers stay up to date and, most importantly, stay on budget and schedule.

TracFlo launched in 2019 and is off to a fast start. Its investors include MIT Sandbox, MIT Delta, Rough Draft Ventures, and MetaProp. And it completed notable accelerators including Plug & Play and MIT delta v, the program affiliated with MIT.

TracFlo won the Grand Prize at the Harvard Business School Black New Venture Competition. And its platform is currently being used by nearly 20 customers in New York City, including Turner Construction Company, the largest domestic contractor in the U.S. Both of TracFlo’s co-founders have domain experience at Turner Construction, and studied at Columbia University and MIT.

TracFlo was designed to digitize the documentation and communication aspects of construction projects.

In the $226 billion U.S. commercial construction market, an average of 25 companies work simultaneously to complete each project. There’s at least one team in the field and another in an office validating the work and associated costs. Hundreds of people are incentivized to keep the project on-time and on-budget.

When a change needs to be made — one that affects costs or the schedule — it results in what’s called a “change order.” The problem is these orders aren’t always communicated to everyone affiliated with the project.

Important decisions get made without formal agreements. And poor communication and outdated data processing leaves companies without proper documentation for what was spent, where it was spent, and why it was spent. These headaches are the No. 1 cause for financial disputes when it comes to construction projects.

TracFlo reduces these headaches. Its platform creates an average of 10% lower capital lost due to poor documentation, 45 days faster approval time and payment for change orders, and 10 hours per week saved.

At its core, TracFlo is a centralized cloud-based platform. It instantly connects field workers to those in the office, and enables real-time documentation of change orders. Users can upload photos and videos, and conduct digital reviews onsite or offsite. TracFlo keeps a continuous record of every change order and keeps everyone on the same page.

To generate revenue, TracFlo collects a fee for every change order transaction, depending on the size and scope of the project. The more money it helps contractors move through the platform, the more it gets paid.

In 2020, TracFlo processed more than $17 million worth of change order transactions. And it’s projected to reach $1 million in revenue by 2023.

With funds raised, TracFlo aims to launch its new Capital platform. With this, construction companies will be able to scale projects, apply for funding, and access a vetted marketplace of lenders.

Team Background

Jake Snyder - Co-Founder & Technology Lead

Jake has 20 years of software experience designing and building applications.

He started as a designer with DigitalThink, a software company focused on the education industry. He then was a designer with Newwork, a construction-related design company.

More recently, he was a web developer with Montana Banana Web Design, a New York-based design business, then became President of Jupitercow, a website design company.

Jake earned a degree from the University of Cincinnati.

Khalid David - Co-Founder & CEO

Khalid was born into a construction family and comes from three generations of carpenters.

He started his career running a subcontracting company with his father and uncle before joining Turner Construction, the largest domestic contractor in the U.S. In 2017, Turner generated revenue of more than $11 billion.

Khalid then worked for KBR Building Group, an Atlanta-based construction business, serving as a project leader and then assistant project manager. From there, he became CEO of Bunkers Hill Construction, a sales & marketing company focused on the construction industry.

More recently, he rejoined Turner Construction as a safety engineer, then left after three years to start TracFlo.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Columbia University and an MBA from MIT.

Anjaneya Naik - Product Developer

Before joining TracFlo, Anjaneya was a UX designer with Ealai, an “e-learning” company. Prior to that, he was a UX designer with Colaberry, an IT services startup.

He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Atharva College of Engineering and a Master’s degree in Management Information Systems from Northeastern University.

Co-Investors

Rough Draft Ventures

A VC fund based in Boston focused on technology-centric startups.

MIT delta v

MIT's venture accelerator helping early-stage companies.

MIT Sandbox

Accelerator and innovation firm affiliated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

MetaProp

A VC firm focused on the real estate technology industry. Portfolio includes Avail, Spacious, and Notion.