Forward-Deployed Engineer

Brdg and Mortgage Automator modernize construction lending. August 17, 2026 | NCFA Market Activity | Banking And Credit, Artificial Intelligence And Data Construction lending workflow modernization in Canada. On August 17, 2026, Montréal-based Brdg confirmed a C$850,000 pre-seed round to expand its construction finance platform. One week earlier, Toronto-based Mortgage Automator launched Construction Draw Management, bringing construction budgets, draw schedules and approvals into the active loan file. Brdg organizes project information across developers, cost consultants and lenders. Mortgage Automator brings draw control into the lender's loan system. Brdg structures the information lenders need. Brdg isn't a lender. Its software organizes the documents, budgets and project information used to prepare and review construction financing. The platform accepts documents through email or upload, classifies them and organizes them into a project record. It tracks budgets, project progress and funding information, checks draw readiness across legal, contract, construction and financial categories, and produces lender-ready reports. Brdg provides separate workflows for developers, lenders and cost consultants. Its construction finance platform also shows document ingestion, project dashboards, cash-flow tracking and draw-disbursement readiness. Brdg reports 30,000+ construction-related documents processed, more than C$300 million in development and active construction, and an average 5.5-day reduction in draw cycle time. The document volume and reported time savings indicate that Brdg is being used in live construction finance workflows. The C$300 million figure describes development and active construction associated with Brdg's work. It is not revenue, loans originated, financing arranged or assets under management. Brdg also describes the product as AI-powered and uses labels including Intelligence Agent and Submission Agent. Public evidence supports AI-assisted document and workflow processing. It does not establish autonomous underwriting or credit decisions. Forum Ventures invested in Brdg, and the company joined its Summer 2026 cohort. Co-founder Ness Cabessa describes Brdg as replacing spreadsheets, email and manual draw processes with a structured construction finance platform. Mortgage Automator brings draw control into the loan file. Mortgage Automator starts from the lender side. Its Draw Management feature keeps the construction budget inside the same system as the loan. Lenders build budget categories, line items and amounts in Mortgage Automator, then manage planned or ad hoc draw requests against that budget. The system flags variances and can enforce configurable loan-to-cost limits. Project Health compares work completed with funds already disbursed, giving lenders another way to identify budget drift across active construction loans. Mortgage Automator says the feature responds to private construction and fix-and-flip lenders that were managing loans in one system while tracking construction budgets in spreadsheets or separate software. A developer may prepare budgets, invoices and supporting documents. Cost consultants review project costs and progress. Lenders determine whether conditions have been met before additional funds are released. C$55B CMHC program shows the scale of construction draws. Construction loans release financing in stages because lenders need evidence that work and project costs are progressing before advancing more capital. That process is visible in Canada's public construction financing system. CMHC's Apartment Construction Loan Program provides loans starting at C$1 million and can finance up to 100% of the residential component's cost for qualifying projects. The federal program has been expanded to more than C$55 billion in loan funding. Some program streams use monthly construction draws once the loan agreement is in place. Every draw can bring another set of budgets, invoices, progress information, contracts, approvals and supporting reports into the financing process. Cost consultants are also part of that control chain. They can review construction progress, costs and supporting documentation before lenders release additional financing. Construction finance workflows are moving into software. Brdg structures project information before and during lender review. Mortgage Automator keeps budgets and draw controls attached to the active loan. The next evolution is to carry the same structured project data from developers and cost consultants into lender systems without rebuilding it at each stage. That would reduce duplicate data entry, make budget changes easier to trace and give lenders a clearer record of what changed between draw requests. The open question is how the market develops from here. Lenders may prefer draw tools built into their loan systems. Developers and cost consultants may need platforms that work across several lenders. Integrations could eventually connect the two. Talking point. Will construction finance software remain split between developer, consultant and lender workflows, or will shared project data eventually connect the full draw process? The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. 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Montréal-based Brdg has raised $850,000 CAD in pre-seed funding to modernise construction financing in Canada. The startup, backed by New York's Forum Ventures and undisclosed strategic investors, aims to simplify construction loan management for real estate developers, cost consultants, and lenders. Co-founders Ness Cabessa, Samuel Brand, and Daniel Bensoussan launched Brdg in 2024 after experiencing firsthand the fragmented, manual-labour-intensive nature of construction draws. The platform replaces spreadsheets with centralised software that automates document collection, compliance reviews, budget validation, and draw packaging. Brdg entered beta in early 2026 and went public this summer. The company now partners with stakeholders on projects representing over $600 million in active development, spanning high-rise residential buildings, industrial projects, hotels, and shopping centres.

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