Maria Davidson is making construction procurement cool— and a billion-dollar business. After studying philosophy, politics, and economics at Oxford and a stint in venture capital, Maria set her sights on one of the least “sexy” industries imaginable: construction. What started with her hustling for meetings by showing up at job sites with pizza has grown into Kojo, a platform processing over $4 billion in material orders annually—and has broken fundraising records along the way. Since she spoke with Sammi, she’s raised an additional $10 million, for a total of $94 million raised, the most ever raised by a female founder in construction tech.

In this conversation, Maria shares how her immigrant upbringing shaped her entrepreneurial drive, the scrappy tactics that got Kojo off the ground, and the leadership lessons that helped her scale in one of the most male-dominated industries. Whether you’ve never thought twice about procurement or you’re hungry for scaling lessons from a record-breaking founder, Maria will have you hooked.

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