A recent $6 million funding infusion will make it possible for Detroit-based RIVET Work Inc., a four-year-old developer of workforce management software for the construction industry, to expand its offerings into the mechanical engineering market.
Ryan Meitl, CEO of RIVET Work, says the company secured the investment in December 2023 from Brick and Mortar Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm focused on the construction industry. Previous investment rounds have been funded by Michigan entities Augment Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Michigan Rise, and Red Cedar Ventures.
In total, the company has raised $14 million in investor funding since it launched in 2020.
Meitl, an electrical engineer by trade, started the company after he observed that contractors who often partnered with him on projects were using antiquated workforce management processes, which often consisted of little more than a whiteboard or an Excel spreadsheet.
“Today there are a lot less whiteboards, except on job sites, but it’s a lot more spreadsheets,” Meitl says. “That still leaves a lot of gaps, because spreadsheets don’t communicate automatically, and spreadsheets are hard to collaborate with, especially when you have dozens of people who need to look at and collaborate on a single thing.”
RIVET Work’s software, designed with the construction industry in mind, simplifies and automates much of the task of allocating labor on job sites, while making it easier for team members to share information and collaborate.
It also provides information contractors can use to measure labor productivity via multiple metrics such as units installed per day, per person.
“Basically (a contractor’s) profit will be determined by how productive their people actually are,” Meitl says. “There are a bunch of macro factors that really impact how productive the people on their projects are. And if you can’t have a good labor plan, and you can’t execute against the labor plan collaboratively in real time, those things will erode margin.”
The new capital infusion will help RIVET Work tweak its software product to provide mechanical engineering firms with the same efficiencies.
To date, the company is working with approximately 130 companies across the United States, and has a goal of doubling or tripling its customer base via investments in new product offerings and added talent to help design, market, and service the software.
RIVET CEO Ryan Meitl addresses the RIVET Work team during a monthly all-hands meeting. Right: RIVET’s new Schedule to Your Forecast feature .
The company currently stands at 40 employees and is housed in the Madison building overlooking Grand Circus Park. Meitl says the company is quickly outgrowing its space, and will be looking to find more room in downtown Detroit in 2025.
Meitl, a native of Peoria, Ill., moved to the Detroit area with his wife, Cassie, in 2011 and quickly saw the potential of the city.
“We bought a house in the city eight years ago and said, we want to be part of it,” Meitl says. “What we saw was going to happen in Detroit was going to be a transformation, a revitalization of the economy, (and) new businesses. I kind of fell into startup stuff, and I’m really passionate about growing the ecosystem here.”
