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Trayd

Can a vertical SaaS platform purpose-built for construction back-office complexity — union rules, prevailing wage, certified payroll, multi-state compliance — become the operating system that replaces every fragmented legacy tool used by specialty contractors?

Founded2021
HQNew York, NY, USA
FoundersAnna Berger (CEO), Cara Kessler (CTO)
Total raised$17M
Latest roundSeries A, 2025
IndustryVertical SaaS / Construction
The story

Founded in 2021 as a construction payroll platform focused on same-day pay for construction workers, Trayd initially pitched itself as solving earned wage access delays for the 7M US construction workers. The company has since expanded into a full back-office operating system for specialty contractors — encompassing HR, onboarding, scheduling, field tracking, compliance (union, prevailing wage, certified payroll), and real-time job costing. The embedded finance angle is centered on payroll infrastructure and automated tax filing rather than banking or lending products, with the platform integrating with construction accounting systems as its primary downstream connector.

Last 12 months
2025
2026-01
Product timeline
2021
Trayd founded by Anna Berger and Cara Kessler as a construction payroll and back-office platform, backed by Y Combinator.· pivot
2023
Platform expanded to include HR & People Management, Scheduling & Dispatch, and Labor & Field Tracking alongside core payroll.· banking
2024
Launched real-time job costing with integrations into leading construction accounting systems.· acquisition
2025
Raised $10M Series A led by White Star Capital in three weeks; total funding reaches $17M.· ipo
2026
Named a Top 50 ConTech Startup for 2026; platform now used by hundreds of specialty contractors across trades.· pivot
The stack
Accounting
leading construction accounting systems (unnamed)
Accounting gap: significant