Construction AI startup raises $6M as Colorado grocery strike ends

Denver, Colorado, September 25, 2025

News Summary

Denver-based LightTable closed a $6 million seed round to scale its AI-driven plan review platform that ingests PDFs of drawings and specifications and returns prioritized issue lists in 10–45 minutes. The startup doubled its team, plans further hiring, and reports its software currently catches 60–65% of errors with a roadmap to reach about 90% next year. LightTable has analyzed millions of square feet across dozens of projects and charges per square foot. Separately in Colorado, grocery workers ended a multi-store strike after a tentative agreement on 45 contract provisions covering wages, benefits and pension protections.

Construction tech startup raises $6 million seed round as Colorado grocery strike ends

A Denver startup that applies artificial intelligence to construction plan review closed a $6 million seed round and is expanding its team, while in Colorado a major grocery strike ended after a tentative contract was reached.

Top developments

LightTable closed a $6 million seed round, and the company is using the funding to hire experienced construction experts and invest in product engineering. In a separate labor development, workers at dozens of Colorado Safeway and Albertsons stores ended their strike on a Saturday after the union announced a breakthrough in contract negotiations.

About the company and funding

LightTable is a Denver-based startup. LightTable was founded in 2024. The three co‑founders are a chief executive, a chief technology officer and a head of growth who previously worked as an architect. The founding team came together through an incubator connection with an early investor.

The round was led by the firm that connected the founders, with participation from early-stage investors and an academic venture fund. The company had previously raised $2.2 million in a pre‑seed round.

Product and operations

LightTable accepts PDFs of design documents, drawings and specifications uploaded by users. Developers upload site plans and the system runs an automated review using large language models, computer vision and a proprietary code base layered on top of those models. The company reports that LightTable’s AI review currently takes between about 10 and 45 minutes to read through a couple thousand pages of specifications, with typical turnaround described as much faster than the traditional peer review process that can take weeks.

The AI performs a full coordination of constructability, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering, accessibility, and fire and life safety during its review. After analysis, the software produces a prioritized list of issues for project stakeholders, highlighting items that are likely to become costly requests for information and change orders if not addressed.

Performance and claims

LightTable reports that LightTable’s software currently catches between 60% and 65% of all errors, with a projection that LightTable’s AI will catch around 90% of errors a year from now. The company also estimates that if a developer uploads plans to a widely available chatbot it might catch up to 15% of the problems, and that current human peer review catches around 50% of problems.

The startup says it has analyzed 2.5 million square feet across 50 projects so far and expects to analyze around 10 million square feet by the end of the year while expanding into hospitals, data centers and labs. The project set so far includes apartment buildings and retail, and the company is working with two of the largest multifamily developers in the country, including a Florida-based firm with which it has a pilot agreement. Customers pay on a per-square-foot basis for each project, and when a developer buys the product for a project, other project team members receive access for that project at no additional cost.

Team growth and hiring

LightTable doubled its team from five people to 10 after the $6 million raise. About half of staff are AI and software engineers and the company also employs construction and architecture veterans. The startup expects to add another five people to its office in the next four to six months.

Labor update in Colorado

The grocery strike began June 15 and expanded to 48 of 80 store locations as well as including a distribution center during the walkout. The union announced it reached a tentative agreement on 45 key contract provisions that include higher wages, improved dental and vision benefits, a fully funded pension, and protections against union work going to gig companies. The union described the tentative contract as gains without concessions. Ratification meetings are being scheduled and union members were called to return to work by Monday.

The grocery chain’s spokesperson said the company is pleased to have reached what it called a fair and equitable agreement that will benefit associates and allow continued service to customers.

Why this matters

Automated plan review can reduce manual review hours, surface more coordination issues early, and potentially cut the portion of development costs spent fixing plan errors. The retailer agreement ends a monthlong labor dispute that affected dozens of stores and a regional distribution hub.

What’s next

The construction tech company plans to deploy the new funding to refine the product, grow its team and scale project analysis. The union contract remains tentative until members ratify the agreement at scheduled meetings.

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Key features at a glance

Deeper Dive: News & Info About This Topic

Additional Resources

• The Denver Post: LightTable closed a $6 million seed round
• Wikipedia: Construction technology
• Commercial Observer: LightTable seed round
• Google Search: LightTable seed funding
• The Denver Post: Safeway/Albertsons strike ends with tentative contract
• Wikipedia: United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)
• The Denver Post: Denver trash and compost collection furloughs
• Encyclopedia Britannica: Waste management
• The Denver Post: JCPenney, Macy’s leaving Northfield Shops
• Google News: Northfield Shops Denver JCPenney Macys

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