Planera, a construction critical path method scheduling and planning platform, has raised $13.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Sierra Ventures, with participation from Sorenson Capital, Brick and Mortar Ventures, Prudence VC and Firebolt Ventures, the company said Aug. 27.

The construction tech startup said the funding will allow it to accelerate the development and deployment of its visual planning tools for general contractors, specialty subcontractors and the entire construction sector. In its funding announcement, it said the shift from on-premise project management systems to cloud-based intelligent applications, multiplayer collaboration and visual planning is positioning the company well for the future. 

“We're all about democratizing scheduling, says Nitin Bhandari, CEO and co-founder of Planera. “We want to build something that is both accessible to everybody, up and down the stack and in the construction company, but also keep it powerful.” 

He says that Planera plans to expand its software's outreach capabilities to subcontractors in the trades, as they're the ones doing most of the work on jobsites.

Bhanderi adds that Planera is seeing strong demand for long-term and weekly planning tools. The company will also use the new funding to invest in advanced features like quality checks, performance analytics and construction-specific artificial intelligence to better anticipate and manage unexpected project challenges. Additionally, Planera plans to accelerate product development and expand sales and marketing efforts with the funding.

“The construction industry can drive better project outcomes only if the entire project team participates in creating, maintaining, and optimizing project schedules and plans on an ongoing basis,” said Troy Thompson, COO at Big-D Construction, a Planera user, in a statement. “Planera is the only platform that has allowed us to move our teams in that direction.”