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Dive brief:
- Skillit, a technology company that claims to have the largest networks of verified trade workers for hire in the country, has entered society with DPR Construction and Suffolk Technologies, according to an announcement Monday.
- The news comes after Suffolk Technologies and WND Ventures, the venture capital arms of Suffolk Construction and DPR, respectively, made equity investments in Skillit. The company declined to disclose the percentages or dollar value of the investments, which will adding to the company’s total funding of $13.6 millionby Crunchbase.
- The construction labor crisis it has builders looking for answers, and some of the most prominent tech-focused companies are turning to artificial intelligence to find workers. Along with Suffolk Technologies and DPR, Skillit has worked with Brasfield & Gorrie, Mortenson and Swinerton, according to the company’s website.
Diving knowledge:
For contractors, Skillit offers a database of workers that users can now research with the help of AI. Show verified profiles quickly and help companies scale to hire more.
Fraser Patterson, CEO of Skillit, told Construction Dive via email that Suffolk and DPR have different scaling plans in place for the company. Boston-based Suffolk is rolling out the technology first through its self-execution company, Liberty, and then through Suffolk itself as Skillit adds administrative roles — project managers, estimators and superintendents — to the platform.
DPR based in Santa Clara, CaliforniaIn the meantime, it is deploying the technology nationally to support the contractor’s mission-critical work, Patterson said.
Patterson said the generic problems facing the industry means there’s no need to build specific solutions for the two contractors.
“That said, we will work closely with their teams as we do with key accounts to have them contribute and shape our roadmap,” he said.
Indeed, the partnership between New York City-based Skillit and the two contractors will help the company grow its network of workers, workflows, data, automation capabilities and executive team, according to the announcement.
“We see the future of construction procurement as more connected, more responsive and based on the real needs of the workplace,” DPR board member Eric Lamb said in the statement. “Skillit’s platform reflects this direction with its AI-powered infrastructure that helps our teams connect more quickly and effectively with talent in skilled trades.”
The race to match skilled trades talent with jobs has intensified along with the data center construction boom, leading to increasingly creative tactics to fill the open positions. For example, Where Trades Go, a profile-based platform that has around 3,500 users, borrows concepts from dating apps.
For its part, Skillit focuses on that part of the workforce that does not sit behind a desk.
“The challenges of the construction workforce require new infrastructure and smarter systems,” Jit Kee Chin, chief technology officer of Suffolk Construction and managing partner of Suffolk Technologies, said in the press release. “Skillit is addressing a critical gap in the industry with technology built specifically for the realities of construction procurement and workforce deployment.”
