Boldt invests in VC firm founded by Green Bay Packers, Microsoft

Dive Brief:

Appleton, Wisconsin-based The Boldt Group invested last month in TitletownTech, a Green Bay, Wisconsin-based venture capital firm that aims to advance technological innovation in industries such as construction and manufacturing, according to a press release.
TitletownTech, a venture capital firm formed out of a partnership between the NFL’s Green Bay Packers and tech giant Microsoft, invests in companies across five key industries: entertainment, digital health, environmental, advanced manufacturing and supply chain technology.
Through its investment, Boldt will support future contributions to tech startups that advance construction solutions, with a major focus on relieving labor shortages, said Dave Kievet, president of The Boldt Co., the construction services subsidiary of The Boldt Group. Kievet declined to share the specific amount of the investment.

Dive Insight:

The venture capital firm invested last week in Tusk Logistics, a Chicago-based supply chain company, according to a press release.

Regarding Boldt’s investment, Kievet pinpointed improvements to modularization as a specific area of interest.

“How do we build more of our buildings in markets that have an abundance of labor and ship it to those parts of the country that don’t have an abundance of labor?” said Kievet. “That’s one of the most difficult things to do — find the labor in some markets.”

Boldt is also interested in technologies that make construction more efficient and with a higher degree of quality, namely robotics, welding and laser guidance.

“Instead of being relegated to working 7 to 3:30, maybe we can work 24 hours a day with larger projects where the construction equipment is automated,” said Kievet. “It would just run automatically big site excavations, deep excavations, underground trenching. Welding operations can all be automated.”

Boldt works in a range of sectors, such as commercial, higher education, healthcare and energy projects. The company completed last month the redesign and renovation of its new corporate headquarters in Appleton, according to a release. The OneBoldt Center is a two-story office building set to officially open this spring.

Other contractors to also dabble in venture capital include Boston-based Suffolk. The construction contracting company has its own VC arm, Suffolk Technologies.