Brdg raises C$850K to bring AI to construction financing
What's the deal? Montréal startup BrdgDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has closed a C$850,000 pre-seed round to help real estate developers, cost consultants, and lenders manage the financing of construction projects in Canada. The round was raised through a simple agreement for future equity, led by New York's Forum VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → with undisclosed strategic investors from the real estate and construction finance sector.
What's the endgame? Founded in 2024 by Ness Cabessa, Samuel Brand, and Daniel Bensoussan, Brdg has built a platform to replace spreadsheets and manual work with software that automates document collection, compliance reviews, budget validation, and draw packaging. It wants to become "the operating system for construction finance."
Why now? Construction draws — the phased system by which lenders release loan funds as developers hit project milestones — remain slow and manual. "The construction financing process is quite archaic," Cabessa told BetaKit, adding that "a lot of time is being wasted, and time in construction is money."
Where it's headed: Brdg launched in beta in early 2026 and opened to the public this summer. It has since partnered with stakeholders across projects representing more than $600 million in active development, spanning high-rise rentals, industrial projects, hotels, and shopping centres.
The founders drew on their own experience in general contracting and development, targeting small to mid-sized developers with limited internal infrastructure. Forum partner Kevin Corliss praised their "commercially savvy" distribution approach, calling them "a team that understands not just the problem but how to build a real business around it."
What's next? Cabessa said the funds will go toward growing Brdg's five-person team, layering on more agentic AI, and pursuing partnerships in construction lending as it expands across Canada.
The signal: At C$850,000, Brdg's pre-seed sits in the modest tier of early-stage rounds — a lean bet on a niche, unglamorous corner of construction tech. Forum's backing signals continued investor appetite for AI tools aimed at legacy, paperwork-heavy industries.
Read more: BetaKit
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
