---
title: Saudi Building Materials Platform BRKZ Raises $31M to Expand AI in Construction Procurement
description: Aramco's Wa'ed Ventures and 500 Global co-lead a $13M Series B for Saudi building materials platform BRKZ, with $18M of Stride Ventures debt on top.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
updated: 2026-09-11T21:14:25.330Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/brkz-31m-series-b-ai-construction-procurement
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/brkz-cement-delivery.webp
categories: Artificial Intelligence, Startups
content_type: Spotlight
region: Riyadh
publication: Sovereign Magazine
about:
  - type: Organization
    name: BRKZ
    description: "BRKZ is a B2B managed marketplace transforming construction procurement in Saudi Arabia. By connecting contractors and factories with suppliers through a tech-enabled platform, BRKZ provides access to thousands of SKUs, competitive pricing, and technology-enabled payment and financing enablement solutions. With a focus on efficiency and transparency, BRKZ empowers MENA’s construction sector to meet the ambitious goals. For more information please visit https://brkz.com/en"
    url: https://brkz.com/en
    industry: Construction Technology
    sameAs:
      - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/brkz/id6447361944, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.brkz.buyer&pli=1
---

BRKZ, a Riyadh building materials procurement platform, has raised $31 million to automate more of the quoting, pricing and delivery work that its staff still do by hand. The money is split between $13 million in Series B equity, co-led by Wa'ed Ventures, the venture arm of Aramco, and 500 Global, and an $18 million growth debt commitment from Stride Ventures under the [$30 million facility announced in October 2025](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/brkz-secures-30m-to-power-the-platform-saudi-contractors-actually-need). BECO Capital and ANB Capital also invested in the equity round. The company says it has now raised more than $70 million across equity and debt since it started in 2022.

Contractors, distributors and factories use BRKZ to source local, imported and raw materials from a single account, and the company handles pricing, quality checks, logistics and payment terms. It serves more than 1,500 contracting companies and 150 building materials factories, supplied by around 2,100 local and international suppliers. Since launch it has sold more than $133 million (SAR 500 million) of materials and processed more than $1.37 billion (SAR 5.13 billion) in requests for quotation, known as RFQs.

## AI Pricing for Building Materials Procurement

> "Having spent our first years building the supply network, infrastructure and data to digitize procurement at scale, we can now make that infrastructure significantly smarter and, with this funding, extend our reach across Saudi Arabia and the region."
> — Ibrahim Manna, founder and CEO, BRKZ

BRKZ has assembled roughly 38 million structured data points covering more than 13,000 product records and 2,100 supplier profiles over three years. A pricing engine trained on about 40,000 past RFQs now predicts the buy and sell price for each new order and recommends which suppliers to send it to. BRKZ says between 84% and 89% of its predictions fall within 5% of the price at which the order is eventually transacted. A pricing job that used to be done by hand is now near-instant, though the procurement team keeps final oversight.

Materials are a large share of any construction budget, and procurement is still fragmented, relying on manual sourcing, negotiation and disconnected logistics. BRKZ combines its Saudi supplier network with international sourcing and manages pricing, quality assurance, delivery and commercial terms through one relationship with the customer.

## Nusa and AI Agents in Construction Logistics

Nusa, the company's delivery agent, processes bulk cement deliveries by reading photographs of delivery notes that transporters send over WhatsApp, matching them to orders, checking the quantities and closing the delivery once it is complete. Staff step in only on exceptions. About three quarters of delivery notes now go through without anyone overriding the agent.

Decisions on payment terms, the part of the business the Stride facility funds, are also AI-assisted. The system draws on BRKZ's own record of how each customer has paid in the past, and the finance team gives the final approval. In October the company said the $30 million facility would support around $48 million of transactions on flexible terms. The $18 million announced today is Stride's commitment under that facility.

## Growth Since the Stride Ventures Debt Facility

When BRKZ announced the Stride facility in October 2025 it had processed $837 million in RFQs, listed around 7,500 products from 1,300 suppliers and served about 850 contractors. It now reports $1.37 billion in RFQs, more than 13,000 product records, 2,100 suppliers and 1,500 contractors, plus 150 building materials factories. Revenue grew 2.5 times in 2025, after quadrupling in 2024, and the company says it is on track to triple in 2026.

Houthi attacks sank two bulk carriers in the Red Sea in July 2025 and hit a ship near the Saudi port of Yanbu in August, before pausing after the October ceasefire, and most container lines were still routing around the Cape of Good Hope in early 2026. Saudi construction costs rose by an estimated 5% to 7% over the year, with cement prices pushed up by higher diesel and heavy fuel oil prices. "Even amid significant regional and supply-chain disruptions, we achieved record growth because contractors and factories still need reliable access to materials, competitive pricing and dependable fulfillment," Manna said.

## Series B Investors and the Saudi Venture Market

> "Building materials procurement is one of the largest, least digitized categories in the Saudi economy, and BRKZ has methodically built the infrastructure and data needed to solve it at scale."
> — Amjad Ahmad, Managing Partner, 500 Global

500 Global is co-leading through the Saudi-based fund for the Middle East and North Africa that it launched in January 2025, which invests up to $10 million per company. Ahmad, who ran NBK Capital Partners in Dubai for a decade before joining the firm, said 500 Global co-led on the team's record of execution, since BRKZ kept growing through the supply chain disruption because contractors rely on the platform to deliver. Wa'ed Ventures, Aramco's $500 million venture fund, is an existing investor, and its chief executive Anas Alghatani said the firm expects the company to make procurement "more efficient, connected and data driven". ANB Capital, the investment arm of Arab National Bank, is a new investor, and BECO Capital of Dubai, an investor in Careem, returned.

Manna spent about eight years at Careem before founding BRKZ, leading its launch in 11 of the 15 markets it entered before Uber bought the company for $3.1 billion in 2019. Earlier in 2026 BRKZ took a strategic investment from SIC, the investment arm of the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, and in 2025 it was selected for the Saudi Unicorns Program, a government initiative that identifies high-potential startups aligned with national priorities.

[Saudi venture funding](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/bono-s-tpg-rise-fund-places-first-middle-east-bet-on-saudi-fintech-hala) reached $1.72 billion in 2025, up 145% on the year and more than half of the total for the Middle East and North Africa, the third year running that the Kingdom was the region's largest market. Venture debt accounted for 44% of Saudi startup funding in 2025. Stride, which is based in India, aims to have $500 million under management in the Gulf by 2026 with SAB Invest, the investment arm of Saudi Awwal Bank, as its partner.

## Automation, Vertical Integration and Cross-Border Sourcing

The new money goes on [further automation of quoting, pricing and fulfilment](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/freehand-supply-chain-ai-75m-funding), deeper vertical integration from raw materials sourcing to last-mile delivery, and direct supply corridors into China, India and other manufacturing markets to widen the range of materials available and improve prices.

The company supplies contractors working on The Red Sea Project, Diriyah, Qiddiya, ROSHN developments and King Salman Park, and says it remains open to further strategic investors joining the Series B. Its nearest domestic rival, Builtop, raised $11 million in November 2025 with a similar mix of procurement and embedded finance. Infra.Market in India runs the same model at far greater scale, valued at $2.7 billion in March 2026 and preparing a public listing.

## FAQ

**Q: How can AI be used in procurement?**
At BRKZ a pricing engine trained on about 40,000 past requests for quotation predicts the buy and sell price of a new order and suggests suppliers, with 84% to 89% of predictions within 5% of the final price. A delivery agent called Nusa reads delivery-note photos sent over WhatsApp and closes completed cement deliveries. The system also recommends payment terms based on each customer's payment history. Staff keep final oversight of pricing and payment terms, and step in on delivery exceptions.

**Q: Why use debt instead of equity?**
Debt does not dilute the founders and existing shareholders, and it suits a business that extends credit to its own customers. BRKZ uses the Stride Ventures facility to fund working capital and flexible payment terms for contractors, which are repaid over time. The rest of the new capital goes to the AI systems, vertical integration and cross-border sourcing.

**Q: Where is construction booming in 2026?**
Saudi Arabia, where estimates of the annual construction market run from about $100 billion to more than $140 billion depending on the method. The buyers are contractors on Vision 2030 projects including NEOM, The Red Sea Project, Diriyah, Qiddiya, ROSHN and King Salman Park, and on preparations for Expo 2030 and the 2034 FIFA World Cup. BRKZ supplies contractors on several of these developments.

**Q: Who is the leading supplier of construction materials in Saudi Arabia?**
There is no single dominant supplier. The market is spread across local factories, importers and international traders, which is the fragmentation BRKZ is set up to deal with. Its platform brings together around 2,100 local and international suppliers so that a contractor can source local, imported and raw materials through one account rather than dealing with each supplier separately.

**About BRKZ**

BRKZ is a B2B managed marketplace transforming construction procurement in Saudi Arabia. By connecting contractors and factories with suppliers through a tech-enabled platform, BRKZ provides access to thousands of SKUs, competitive pricing, and technology-enabled payment and financing enablement solutions. With a focus on efficiency and transparency, BRKZ empowers MENA’s construction sector to meet the ambitious goals. For more information please visit https://brkz.com/en

[Website](https://brkz.com/en)