Bolster
“Can a construction estimating tool become the financial operating system for residential contractors?”
Founded2016
HQCalgary, Alberta, Canada
IndustryVertical SaaS / Construction
The story
Founded 2016 as CostCertified, an estimating tool for residential contractors. Following Y Combinator in 2021, the company rebranded to Bolster and expanded from estimating into an end-to-end construction OS covering CRM, project management, presentations, and — critically for embedded finance — payments, business accounts, and (in roadmap) capital and corporate cards. The strategy is a classic vertical SaaS 'own the money layer' play: use estimating as the wedge, then monetize contractor cash flow via payments (Adyen) and lending.
Last 12 months
Product timeline
2016
Founded as CostCertified in Calgary to modernize construction estimating· pivot
2021
Completed Y Combinator; broke Alberta record for largest seed round· pivot
2023
Rebranded from CostCertified to Bolster (Bolster Built Inc.)· pivot
2024
Named to Forbes Canada's Best Startup Employers 2024· banking
2025
Launched Bolster Payments (Adyen-powered), Business Accounts, and progress payments· banking
2026
Announced Capital (financing) and Corporate Cards products as 'coming soon'· card
The stack
7 layers disclosed in Bolster’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Money movement
in the full report
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Card network
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Accounting
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
7 more providers across 6 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.