Shovels Unifies Government Decisions, Permits, Contractors, and Property Records in One Platform

The refreshed Shovels Online is a foundational milestone, coinciding with both strong revenue and staff growth.

CONCORD, CA, UNITED STATES, November 4, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Shovels, the prediction engine for the built world, today launched a rebuilt version of Shovels Online. The web application allows users to follow construction through its entire lifecycle, from the initial zoning decision and permit filing to contractor activity and property changes, all in one searchable platform. The release brings the company’s four proprietary datasets together for the first time and introduces a redesigned website and public, self-serve pricing.

The company also announced that its revenue has grown 6x since its seed round, while its team has grown 3x over the same period.

”Nobody just wants data. They want answers.” said Ryan Buckley, CEO and co-founder of Shovels. “For decades, this industry found out about construction only after it was already underway, when contracts have been signed or when a crew shows up. It's always reactive. By connecting government decisions, permits, contractors, and properties in one system, we help customers understand where construction is going to happen, at what scale, and when, sometimes months before work begins. That’s new, and it’s why our business is growing.”

WHAT HAS LAUNCHED

* Shovels Online, rebuilt. A ground-up rebuild on a new technology stack, with a redesigned interface, map and list views, coverage warnings that identify gaps in source data, and result cards that display only relevant, populated fields.

*Decisions. Zoning approvals, rezonings, demolition, and other planning decisions extracted from official agendas and minutes across 5,000 jurisdictions (city, county, school districts, towns, etc). These records provide an early signal of development activity, often months before a permit is filed.

*Properties. A nationwide dataset covering 159 million U.S. addresses, approximately 98% of deliverable addresses nationwide, sourced continuously by Shovels from county assessor offices.

*Charlie AI, built in. The company’s natural-language AI agent is now embedded directly in Shovels Online. Users can analyze data, apply filters, access the knowledge base, and search using plain-language prompts, without switching to a separate product.

*Summarized permit descriptions. Raw permit text is transformed into clear, standardized descriptions, making records easier to read, search, and use in downstream systems.

*A new website and public pricing. Shovels.ai has a new look. Plans now combine Shovels Online and API access, with tiered credits for downloads. A free plan is also available, with credits that replenish monthly.

GROWTH SINCE SEED

Shovels' revenue has grown 6x since its June 2025 seed round, driven by demand from building material suppliers, homebuilders, real estate and telecom providers who use permit and pre-permit signals to identify construction activity earlier.

The company has expanded its offerings from two proprietary datasets to four. Revenue is compounding at twice the rate of headcount, with the team growing 3x over the same period.

Shovels acquired ReZone in January 2026, which became the foundation of its Decisions dataset. Properties, its fourth dataset, launched on the API earlier this year.

AVAILABILITY

The new Shovels Online is available today at app.shovels.ai, including a free tier. Pricing is published at shovels.ai/pricing. Enterprise data licenses and bulk data shares remain available through the Shovels sales team.

ABOUT SHOVELS

Everything built announces itself first in local government. Shovels captures that signal—using AI to clean, enrich, and unify land-use decision, permit, contractor, and property data from thousands of municipalities. Delivered through our API, web app, or data warehouse, we turn messy public records into standardized, Shovel-ready intelligence that helps industries anticipate growth and make smarter decisions. https://www.shovels.ai/

Shovels is headquartered in Concord, CA and backed by Base10 Partners, Coelius Capital, and Founders Network Fund.

Morgan Friberg
Shovels
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