Briq, a startup that uses artificial intelligence to automate finance in the sphere of construction, raised $8 million in an expansion round at a valuation of $150 million.
The mentioned company has developed a platform through which all departments of the construction firm can automate financial processes, including payroll and accounts payable.
The previous time the startup reported raising funds was in June 2021. At that time, following the results of the Series B financing round, the company received investment funds for $30 million.
Bassem Hamdy, CEO and co-founder of Briq said during a conversation with media representatives that the firm decided to wait out the market and raise a smaller dollar amount with less dilution at a flat valuation. The company does not believe that a Series C funding round should be conducted at this time.
Briq currently serves more than 400 customers. The company reported that its annual recurring revenue for the past year showed an increase of 40% compared to the result of 2022. The firm is currently implementing a cost-reduction strategy. As part of this solution concept, by the end of 2023, the number of employees was reduced by 45% compared to 2022.
Briq was founded in 2018 by former Procore executive Bassem Hamdy and Wall Street veteran Ron Goldschmidt. The company said it started using artificial intelligence even before the integration of advanced technology into workflows became a widespread trend.
Briq has developed a proposal that uses a group of proprietary technologies. In this case, the flagship product is bots, which are applied for generative automation.
The startup stated that it has a library of over 200 bots that are trained to perform actions and tasks traditionally included in the area of human authority within the framework of financial workflows specific to the sphere of construction.
Briq currently offers products such as AutoPilot and CoPilot to consumers. Briq AutoPilot uses bots to solve automation tasks for up to 80% of business processes, which are highly deterministic and predictable in nature. In this case, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and payroll processing are meant.
Bassem Hamdy says that his company’s bots can read documents, apply perception methods through the prism of the traditional logical paradigm concerning the relevant arrays of information, and perform the necessary actions in such processes.
Briq CoPilot automates the creation and administration of financial forecasting processes. In this case, it means analytical activities that cover issues such as the cost of work, revenue, and sales income.
Bassem Hamdy says Briq CoPilot also instructs end users and detects risks to help contractors and project managers avoid cost overruns, missed change orders, and other risks that are in financial markets.
The company is currently focused on operating in North America, but at the same time, it has plans to expand its business geography. Bassem Hamdy says that he is interested in the markets of the Middle East and Asia and some non-English-speaking emerging markets in Europe.
As we have reported earlier, Digital Onboarding Raises $58 Million.
