GovWell, a company that sells permitting and licensing software to local governments, raised $25m in a Series A round announced on 14 May 2026. Insight Partners led the round, with participation from existing investors Work-Bench and Bienville Capital.
Three angel investors from the government technology industry also took part: David Reeves, a former president and chief revenue officer of OpenGov; Andreas Huber, founder and chief executive of First Due; and Chris Bullock, founder and former chief executive of ClearGov. Max Wolff of Insight Partners will join GovWell's board, according to the company's announcement.
The press release put GovWell's total funding at $34.5m. The company's own blog post on the round gives the figure as $35m. No valuation was disclosed.
“Government should work better in the age of AI.”Troy LeCaire, Co-Founder and CEO, GovWell
What GovWell does
GovWell describes itself as an AI operating system for local government. Its software covers permitting, licensing, planning and zoning, and code enforcement, and handles inspections, fee collection, notices and reporting in a single system.
Two AI features are central to the pitch. AutoCheck reviews permit applications against local codes and flags errors, which the company says takes seconds rather than weeks. A Community Assistant answers questions from residents and businesses around the clock, in any language.
In the press release, GovWell said it serves more than 130 municipalities and counties in 34 states. Its blog post, published the same day, says the figure is more than 150 agencies in more than 35 states. The company said customers report cutting processing times by up to 95%, that 80% of its sales replace a legacy vendor, and that the median sales cycle is three months. It also said it has never lost a live customer and that revenue is growing steeply from quarter to quarter, without giving revenue figures.
Founders and background
Troy LeCaire is chief executive and Ben Cohen is chief technology officer. In the blog post, the two say they met about three years ago. LeCaire first encountered government technology while working in the US Senate, and Cohen saw the permit process up close while helping his father, a contractor in Florida.
The press release was datelined New York. Michael A. Nutter, the former mayor of Philadelphia, is named as a GovWell adviser.
What the money is for
GovWell said the funding will go to product development, wider AI capabilities and go-to-market expansion across the US. In the blog post, the founders add that they will keep investing in permitting, licensing, planning and zoning, and code enforcement, and will hire in engineering, deployment and go-to-market. That includes a larger deployment and product support team.
The founders also said local permitting is a starting point. They named public works, benefits and finance as other government functions that run on ageing software, and said they plan to take on more of them as they earn the trust of agencies.
A crowded field
GovWell competes with established government software vendors. The company's argument is that it was built around AI from the start, rather than adding automation to older systems. It did not name competitors in its announcement.
The company's homepage now says municipal and county governments in more than 40 states use the platform, a wider claim than the one in the funding announcement, and the customer figures above come from the company itself.
Company website: govwell.com