Construction may be a $2 trillion industry, but much of its operational backbone still runs on outdated systems. For specialty trade contractors, such as the electricians, plumbers, and technicians who actually build projects, payroll often relies on paper timesheets and Excel.
This inefficiency adds up. Contractors spend an average of 14 hours every week processing payroll, navigating a maze of wage rules, tax requirements, and compliance obligations. It’s a slow, error-prone process in an industry where margins are already tight.
Trayd is stepping into this gap with a sharply focused mission to modernise the back office for the workers who power construction.
The company has now raised $10 million in a Series A round led by White Star Capital, bringing its total funding to $15 million. The round also includes follow-on backing from Suffolk Technologies and Y Combinator, alongside a new strategic investment from RXR.
A purpose-built system for complex workforce realities
Trayd has developed an all-in-one platform that automates payroll, HR, scheduling, compliance, and labour cost tracking for specialty contractors.
What makes this segment uniquely challenging is its complexity. Workers can earn multiple pay rates within a single day depending on the job, location, union status, or whether the work falls under prevailing wage laws. Add multi-state tax rules and evolving compliance requirements, and payroll quickly becomes a logistical nightmare.
Trayd was designed specifically to handle this. Its system factors in trade types, project classifications, union rules, and tax adjustments seamlessly. The impact is striking. Tasks that once took 14 hours now take just 27 minutes. That’s nearly two full working days saved every week, time contractors can redirect toward operations and growth.
Female duo with deep industry and technical roots
Founded in 2021 by Anna Berger and Cara Kessler in New York. Anna is a second-time founder who grew up in a New York construction family. She saw firsthand the operational strain placed on contractors navigating payroll, compliance, union rules, and multi-state labor requirements – watching her father spend every Monday processing payroll by hand. She founded Trayd to modernise the financial and workforce infrastructure of the construction industry. Before Trayd, Anna co-founded Curtn, a consumer social platform backed by Sam Altman.
Cara spent 10 years at LinkedIn before co-founding Trayd. She leads the engineering team building the platform’s payroll, HR, compliance, and labour cost intelligence infrastructure.
Together, they are building in one of the most male-dominated industries in the U.S., bringing a fresh perspective to a long-overlooked segment.
Scaling fast as compliance pressure intensifies
Trayd’s growth reflects both product-market fit and rising urgency in the industry. Since launch, the company has achieved 600% year-over-year revenue growth and expanded its team from six to 24 employees.
The timing is critical. Following updates to the Davis-Bacon Act in 2023, contractors face stricter compliance requirements around wage classification and reporting. Errors can lead to penalties or even project disqualification.
Trayd’s platform helps contractors stay compliant while reducing administrative burden, a combination that is becoming increasingly essential. Now available to specialty trade contractors across the U.S., the platform integrates with major accounting and ERP systems, positioning itself as the central operating layer for construction back offices.
What’s next for Trayd?
The Series A funding will be used to aggressively scale Trayd’s engineering and sales teams and accelerate the platform’s national expansion into key construction markets, including California, Texas, Florida, and Illinois. Over the next three to five years, Trayd is focused on scaling this repeatable playbook nationwide to become the definitive end-to-end back-office operating system for the trades.
“I grew up watching contractors spend hours every week trying to make payroll systems fit the realities of their jobs. Specialty trade contractors deploy the majority of the workforce that builds our cities, yet the software that supports that labor has lagged for decades. We’re building the infrastructure that finally matches the complexity of how construction actually works,” said Anna Berger, co-founder and CEO of Trayd.
“Construction payroll is one of the most technically complex environments that exists; union rules, prevailing wages, tax jurisdictions, and project-level compliance requirements break traditional payroll software. We’re bringing modern engineering discipline to a system that historically relied on spreadsheets and manual work,” added co-founder and CTO, Cara Kessler.
“Before Trayd, we spent up to 12 hours a week just fixing timesheets, with manual errors happening roughly 17% of the time,” said Nate Lewis, Owner of United General Contractors. “Trayd consolidated three different platforms into one, allowing us to manage 300% growth in our field staff with absolutely no additional administrative costs and no added headaches,” added Field Operations Manager, Archie Goldsmith.
“The construction industry depends on financially strong, operationally sound trade partners to deliver projects successfully,” said Diana Kay, Partner at Suffolk Technologies. “Payroll is the core workflow that keeps these businesses running, and one of the hardest to get right. By modernising payroll, Trayd is unlocking meaningful productivity gains and building the foundation for more efficient, resilient, and transparent operations across the industry.”
