Shackleton AI Raises $5M Seed to Expand Construction Agent Workflows

Shackleton AI announced on November 4, 2026 that it had emerged from stealth and raised $5 million in seed funding led by Battery Ventures. The capital will expand the workflows its construction AI agents can manage and accelerate go-to-market efforts. The round also included Brick & Mortar Ventures, Trust Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Motivate Partners, Thayer Investment Partners, Act One Ventures, Brainstorm Ventures and Silence VC, among others.

The platform itself launched in June 2026. Shackleton reports that the platform manages more than $1 billion in project value across more than 15 states. It serves midsize general contractors in multifamily, industrial and commercial construction, as well as multi-location brands including Red Lobster, Dog Haus and Pepper Lunch. Michael Ragheb, Hassan Yasin and Olexandr Kaltsev founded Shackleton in 2026 after growing Ernest, a technology-enabled commercial general contractor, to $35 million in annual revenue across the Southeastern United States.

Ragheb is Shackleton’s chief executive. Their starting point was the fragmented software and manual follow-up they encountered while running that business. Shackleton describes companies juggling seven to 10 systems for bidding, documents, scheduling and…