In the construction industry, where traditionally cash is king, a payments app designed to help contractors just wrapped up a $30 million round of fundraising.
Scott Wolfe, CEO of Levelset, says that money will be going toward research and development to ultimately help streamline the payment process and allow contractors to easily stay in compliance.
"We get contractors paid faster today and we want them to get paid immediately after they do the work and we're innovating to get to that reality," he told Cheddar Thursday.
Levelset has been using a vast amount of data it can glean from users about payment behavior and is trying to use that to offer some clarity in what Wolfe says is a largely opaque industry.
"We touch about a hundred thousand new construction projects every month. We're basically seeing the financial transactions on almost every construction project in the nation and so we're seeing the payment behaviors," he said, adding, "We can take those payment behaviors and put that information into everyone's hand to empower them to make decisions, to know who they should be doing business with, what kind of payment terms to expect, what kind of payment terms they can negotiate."
Wolfe sees other industries with layered and fragmented systems where Levelset's platform may be able to someday expand, but he stressed that he believes there's a lot more room to grow within the construction industry.
Orangetheory Fitness is redefining the future of workouts with smarter tech, strength-based programming, and community-driven studios built for what’s next.
Spain's government has fined Airbnb 64 million euros or $75 million for advertising unlicensed tourist rentals. The consumer rights ministry announced the fine on Monday. The ministry stated that many listings lacked proper license numbers or included incorrect information. The move is part of Spain's ongoing efforts to regulate short-term rental companies amid a housing affordability crisis especially in popular urban areas. The ministry ordered Airbnb in May to remove around 65,000 listings for similar violations. The government's consumer rights minister emphasized the impact on families struggling with housing. Airbnb said it plans to challenge the fine in court.
Roomba maker iRobot has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but says that it doesn’t expect any disruptions to devices as the more than 30-year-old company is taken private under a restructuring process. iRobot said that it is being acquired by Picea through a court-supervised process. Picea is the company's primary contract manufacturer. The Bedford, Massachusetts-based anticipates completing the prepackaged chapter 11 process by February.
Serbia’s prosecutor for organized crime has charged a government minister and three others with abuse of position and falsifying of documents related to a luxury real estate project linked to U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The charges came on Monday. The investigation centers on a controversy over a a bombed-out military complex in central Belgrade that was a protected cultural heritage zone but that is facing redevelopment as a luxury compound by a company linked to Kushner. The $500 million proposal to build a high-rise hotel, offices and shops at the site has met fierce opposition from experts at home and abroad. Selakovic and others allegedly illegally lifted the protection status for the site by falsifying documentation.
Wealthfront’s CFO Alan Iberman talks the $2.05B IPO and the major moment for robo banking as the company bets on AI, automation, and “self-driving money."
