Rabbet, an Austin-based software company that services the construction finance industry, said that it had raised $8 million in a round led by investment firm QED Investors.
Rabbet executives said the funding would be used to hire engineering and sales teams’ members, invest in the company’s technology and expand its services. The startup employs about 12 workers at its office in North Austin.
Rabbet CEO and co-founder Will Mitchell said in a written statement that their name represented their commitment to strengthening connections in the real estate industry and fueling today’s connected construction economy.
Mitchell helped found Rabbet in 2017 under the name Contract Simply. Executives said they decided to rebrand the company to a name that better represents its strength in construction finance. In construction, Rabbet is a cut along the edge of a piece of wood that forms a joint to another piece, which helps strengthen and secure the two pieces.
The company says its online platform, which helps automates documentation and other finance processes for construction lenders and real estate developers, has been used by customers such as New York-based Joy Construction and Rybak Development.
David Bell, managing director of Goldman Sachs’ Construction group, which also participated in Wednesday’s funding, said Rabbet is positioned well to become a leader of construction finance.
They firmly believe construction finance is going to be automated and brought out of its decades-old, paper-ridden process. Rabbet is the only solution that can handle the complexity of this transition.