Briq launches first payment, rewards card for construction

Dive Brief:

Financial software firm Briq today announced the launch of BriqCash, the first construction payments and rewards platform focused on how contractors manage their expenses and cash.
BriqCash gives general and specialty contractors the ability to automate invoice processing, onboard and manage vendors, control expenses at the cost-code level and make direct payments that earn cash back and industry-specific rewards on items such as tools, equipment rentals and supplies.
This is Briq’s second product release, and the integration of BriqCash into Briq’s larger platform completes the last mile of financial management which has been previously unresolved for the construction space, according to an exclusive announcement emailed to Construction Dive.

Dive Insight:

With this release, the Santa Barbara, California-based firm aims to own the construction money workflow. It encompasses the earliest stages of financial planning to cash flow, and now provides the ability to automate the accounts payable workflow.

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"We are the only platform in construction that takes contractors from plan to pay in one seamless motion," said Bassem Hamdy, CEO and co-founder who launched Briq in 2018 after working at construction software firm Procore.

In addition to impacting the AP process, BriqCash provides construction companies with debit cards that can be assigned instantly to workers and can be reloaded every pay cycle. This brings a low-cost, seamless cost allocation solution for ad hoc payments and expenses on projects. Other BriqCash features include:

Expense, invoice and AP automation to reduce overhead.
Elimination of manual data entry processes through accounting automations.
Physical and virtual debit cards.
Virtual bank accounts.
Cost code and project-level expense permissioning.
Payment cards for project teams and field employees.

Some Briq clients have piloted BriqCash for a few months, including Randy Smith, a CPA and applications manager at Austin, Texas-based mechanical specialty contractor Dynamic Systems, who says that he sees the platform as a way to save time and money.

"We think this is going to be a game changer for the construction industry," he said.

Founded in 2018, Briq has raised more than $16 million, including a $10 million Series A led by Blackhorn Ventures in 2020. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the company grew 330% in both revenue and new clients, Hamdy told Construction Dive earlier this year.