Govstream.ai, a Seattle startup that sells permitting technology to local public agencies, has raised $3.6 million in a seed funding round.
Since the company’s launch in 2024 it has raised a total of $4.9 million, according to Crunchbase.
California-based 47th Street Partners led the new funding round, which also included existing investors Nellore Capital and Ascend, along with Kevin Merritt and Andreas Huber, both of whom are government technology veterans.
Merrit founded and led open data company Socrata, which was bought by Tyler Technologies in 2018. He’s now in the wine business.
Huber, the son of soap-opera actress Susan Lucci, is co-founder and CEO of First Due, a public safety tech firm that raised $355 million earlier this year.
Govstream.ai says it is using AI to build a “new language for permitting,” one that can relieve pressure on staffers, reduce wait times and offer “more predictable paths to approval,” according to a statement.
That, in turn, can help local governments encourage more home building, the increased supply helping to ease housing costs and shortages.
Housing woes, in fact, have sparked other activity in gov tech as officials across the country look to AI to improve their own permitting processes.
“Cities are under intense pressure to add housing, support small businesses and keep development sustainable, all while working inside permitting systems that were never really rethought for this moment,” said Saf Rabah, founder and CEO of Govstream.ai, in the statement. “We’re using AI to bring back what digitization lost: being able to ask someone who can actually help, paired with a system that quietly reads the codes, emails and plan sets in the background so staff get real decision support instead of spending hours hunting through documents.”
Bellevue, Wash., is an early client of Govstream.ai, with officials there using the tool as a smart assistant. The AI, trained in the city’s development code, GIS data, zoning codes and other information, can flag zoning issues, craft emails that cite code, check that plans are complete and perform other tasks.
