Shovels Wants to Dig Up America’s Missing Data with $5M Seed

In the U.S., there are over 20,000 building permit jurisdictions, each with its own quirks, file formats, and arcane rules. Yet, despite (or perhaps because of) the torrent of information flowing through city planning departments every day, no centralized, standardized database exists. The result? A fractured mirror of America’s construction activity, one that's invisible to most businesses, policymakers, and even the contractors doing the work.

That’s the puzzle Ryan Buckley is trying to solve with Shovels, a startup that uses AI to systematically clean, enrich, and standardize building permit and contractor data. Founded in 2022, the company has already raised $6.5 million total in funding, including a $5 million seed round led by Base10 Partners this week. Its ambition: to become the definitive source of truth for hyperlocal, high-value public data.

“If you’re putting on a new roof, that’s actually a really good time to put on solar panels,” Buckley explained to Commercial Observer. “So the solar industry is very interested in people with active roofing permits, because that’s when they’re going to be able to convince someone to put on solar panels”.

The idea behind Shovels came from a remodel. After a smooth home renovation, Buckley watched his neighbors suffer through a disaster of a project. “I felt bad for them, angry at the guys they hired, and wondered what the difference was between the contractor we hired and the one they went with”. That observation kicked off a journey that culminated in Shovels.