S3 Ventures & Brick & Mortar Ventures lead Series A as Earlytrade posts 7X US revenue growth; Scott Wolfe, founder of Levelset, joins board
Earlytrade, the global fintech platform transforming working capital management for the construction industry, announced new funding bringing total raised to $25 million, including its Series A round led by S3 Ventures and Brick & Mortar Ventures. Capital is being deployed across two priorities: expanding Earlytrade’s US commercial operations and building agentic AI into the core marketplace infrastructure.
Earlytrade operates a subcontractor payments marketplace that allows general contractors to dynamically trade working capital with their subcontractor base, giving them the ability to secure their supply chains and ensure project outcomes are delivered. Since launching in the US in 2024, the company has achieved 7X revenue growth, grown its network to over 211,000 subcontractors, and facilitated more than $3 billion in early payments globally.
“Every dollar that flows through a construction project passes through a payment bottleneck that has never been solved at scale. Earlytrade has built the infrastructure layer that makes agentic AI in this space possible,” said Charlie Plauche, General Partner at S3 Ventures. “That combination of a proven two-sided marketplace and a genuine AI deployment path is exactly what we look for when we back a category-defining company.”
The US construction industry generates over $2 trillion in output annually, yet subcontractors, who perform the majority of the work, routinely wait 60 to 90 days for payment, creating chronic working capital strain. Earlytrade’s subcontractor payment marketplace addresses this structural disadvantage directly, giving subcontractors control over when and at what rate they access capital already owed to them.
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“Subcontractors value having flexibility in how and when they access capital to support their businesses,” said Dave Anderskow, CFO at Power Construction, a general contractor and client of Earlytrade. “Earlytrade’s marketplace allows us to invest in our trade partners’ growth in a way that is both disciplined and sustainable.
Founded in 2018 in Australia, Earlytrade relocated its incorporation to the US this year, protecting investors from an increase in capital gains tax that would have doubled their tax burden.
“Strong US growth has made one thing clear: the time is right to make a significant investment in agentic AI within our subcontractor payments marketplace,” said Guy Saxelby, CEO and Co-founder of Earlytrade. “We’re actively seeking exceptional talent across AI, Product, and Sales. Visit our careers page to learn more.”
Joining the board alongside Plauche are Darren Bechtel of Brick & Mortar Ventures; Scott Wolfe, founder and former CEO of Levelset, which sold to Procore for $500 million; Kevin Halter, former revenue leader at PlanGrid who helped scale revenue from $5 million to $90 million before a $900 million acquisition by Autodesk; and Ben Brahinsky, an M&A and private equity specialist who has advised the Earlytrade board for two years and sits on more than ten construction industry boards.
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