Construction companies are facing greater pressure due to stricter laws and regulations requiring proof of worker competence.
If companies can’t easily show that their workers and subcontractors have the proper training and qualifications, projects can be delayed, costs can rise, and safety risks can increase. This can lead to fines and contract losses, making compliance a burden for many firms.
For construction workers, not having an effective way to track and showcase their skills can mean missed training opportunities, lower pay, and limited career growth. Certchain aims to resolve these issues with a digital, AI-enabled compliance platform that instantly verifies skills and provides every worker with a live, portable skills record.
Hilde Holt-Bjørnerud, Certchain co-founder, explains: “Traditionally, demonstrating your team and subcontractors have the skills they need to meet regulation or mandatory technical competencies relied on manual card checks, managing spreadsheets and fragmented skills matrices. Certchain makes all this centralised, digital and live. What used to take months can be done in minutes, enabling our clients to take a more proactive standards-based approach to skills management and compliance – with continuous monitoring, forecasts, and alerts on emerging risks and issues across your organisation and supply chain”.
Today, Ufi Ventures and Haatch have backed Certchain with a £750,000 investment. The new funding will help the platform scale across major UK contractors and support the development of new competency tools for workers.
How does Certchain simplify compliance for contractors?
Co-founder Hilde Holt-Bjørnerud leads Certchain alongside Stephen and Sam, drawing on deep sector experience to centralise what were once chaotic manual processes. Motivated by witnessing projects stall due to unverifiable skills, they envision a future where every worker holds a live, portable record, democratising access to opportunities in an industry long plagued by inefficiency.
Certchain connects directly to more than 40 official training and regulatory bodies to verify workforce credentials in real time. Instead of checking plastic cards or chasing certificates, employers receive a “skills passport” for every worker, continuously updated across all projects.
Employers can onboard teams faster, track subcontractor competence, and monitor risks long before they become problems. Automated alerts, continuous updates, and live data make compliance proactive rather than reactive.
This shift is significant as the industry faces new legal expectations around proof of competence. The company provides the infrastructure needed to show compliance instantly and at scale.
Certchain’s benefits extend beyond employers. Its worker-facing app includes Cara AI, a personal career assistant that highlights skill gaps, suggests training, and shows what is required to move into better roles.
Unlike generic HR platforms, it targets construction-specific compliance; direct competitors, such as basic credential checkers (e.g., Citation or manual systems from firms like Skillcard), lack real-time integration and AI-driven worker mobility, while broader tools like LinkedIn Learning miss sector-deep verification.
What’s next?
The fresh capital accelerates enterprise rollout, automating compliance “heavy lifting” for big clients and equipping thousands of workers with portable profiles.
Hilde continues: “We can now roll out faster with big clients, automate more of the heavy lifting on compliance, and give thousands more workers a live, portable record of their skills.
Toby Plamer, Investment Associate at Ufi Ventures, said: “Construction is entering a period where competence has to be evidenced, not assumed. Certchain provides the infrastructure for the industry to operate safely, while helping workers spot opportunities to progress their careers. The approach aligns perfectly with our focus on investing in skills and the future of work.”
