Construction procurement is highly fragmented, manual, opaque, and forces contractors to combine multiple suppliers, to withstand long negotiations and to deal with late payments. These inefficiencies are even more pronounced in Saudi Arabia, where trillion dollars and real estate projects are underway.
To address this, Riyadh-based Construction Tech Startup Brkz offers a technology-enabled managed marketplace that streamlines procurement and offers customized funding solutions. The company raised $9 million ($8 million in stock and $1 million in debt), bringing the series’ total A fund to $17 million, double investors.
Aramco’s Waed, Beco Capital, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Class 5 Global, Fluent Ventures, Knollwood Investment Advisory, Misy Ventures, RZM Existing investors such as Investment, 9900 Capital Re-Particulated.
This follows the $8 million Series A1 round BRKZ announced last March.
Ibrahim Manna, a former executive at Uber subsidiary Careem, founded BRKZ in 2023 after experiencing these challenges firsthand.
“After Careem’s departure to Uber, I bought a family house in May 2020 and faced the inefficiency of the construction supply chain. I was able to see the visibility of material selection, uncertainty about the location of products, and price. We faced the downsides of volatility,” Manna told TechCrunch. “That frustration has come to me that it presented me with how outdated the industry is and how great an opportunity worth exploring.”
Procurement of construction materials
Mana says she will meet with more than 100 suppliers and contractors in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to give a clear grasp of the construction and procurement challenges in the region. He discovered that while the markets are broken everywhere, Saudi Arabia stands out as the biggest opportunity supported by the nation’s Vision 2030 and the strong market tailwinds.
At BRKZ, contractors and factories can source important building materials such as cement, steel and wood. They benefit from clear pricing, competitive estimates in just 20 minutes, buy now and pay later funds, but the factories can source raw materials and expand their customer base.
Similarly, the platform reduces the usual hurdles of high transportation costs and adjustment issues across the region. Over the past year, BRKZ has grown from 1,200 Skus and 350 suppliers to over 7,000 Skus and 1,100 suppliers. Since Series A1, revenues have quadrupled in 2024, with over 850 contractors and factories using BRKZ for major projects such as King Salman Park, Neom and The Red Sea Project.
BRKZ has actively expanded to more than 40 cities in central, eastern and western Saudi Arabia’s provinces, bringing RFQ volumes to $350 million ($1.3 billion) today from $170 million last March. I’ve increased it. Construction technology companies intend to expand their range to north and south states, Mana noted.
Diversification of revenue
To preempt the curve, BRKZ is looking to diversify its revenue streams. This is currently generated through transaction fees and financing solutions, including current purchases, later payments and customized credit offerings.
According to Manna, BRKZ is working with contractors, but wants to start trading with developers, suppliers, a set of customers with a variety of needs, materials and pricing models. The company plans to import difficult-to-source construction materials directly from global markets starting in China and later in India and Turkey, starting this year and later. Masu.
“We are very excited to build or enable trade corridors between China and Saudi Arabia and begin importing goods. If you need materials outside of Saudi Arabia, then you can have them in your hands. Put, label these products and sell them to Saudi contractors, developers and suppliers. Our focus is to go deep into Saudi Arabia,” he shared. This illustrates a transition from Brkz’s previous ambitions to expand across the MENA region.
In particular, the move is in line with China’s efforts to strengthen relations with the Middle Eastern market amid uncertainty over US trade policy. Given the Saudi Arabia construction boom and China’s important role in megaprojects such as Neom and The Line, BRKZ’s import strategy could benefit from government-level trade incentives and funding between the two countries.
Full-service construction ecosystem
Beyond materials, BRKZ deals with four pillars of the project: procurement (today’s core business), funding (BNPL and credit solutions), labor supply, and equipment procurement/rental. We aim to become a full-service construction ecosystem. Manna, managing director of Careem’s Global Markets, said expanding into workforce and equipment services will make BRKZ an end-to-end platform for contractors and developers.
Furthermore, the key product focus leverages AI and machine learning to automate pricing predictability, order generation, and other internal processes, increasing the efficiency of companies, contractors and suppliers. That’s what it is.
The newly raised capital will drive expansion into Saudi Arabia and place the company in the middle of becoming the comprehensive procurement hub it envisions.
“The BRKZ team is implementing its product and operational roadmap to promote efficiency in this rapidly scaled sector and is excited to continue supporting them in the next chapter. BECO Capital’s collaboration “We are pleased to announce that we are committed to providing a range of services to our customers,” said Dany Farha, Founder and Managing Partner.
Since its launch two years ago, BRKZ has raised $22.5 million, including $5.5 million from the pre-seed and seed rounds. Manna said the company’s rating has increased by 46% over the past year, reflecting a four-fold revenue growth rate over the previous year, making the unit’s economics positive.
Source link
