Johor steel distributor, built to US$28 million without outside equity, arranges its first committed source of outside capital, available following a U.S. listing, to develop Matcon, a construction materials platform aimed at a Southeast Asian market worth more than US$220 billion a year and still run largely on phone calls, paper and handshake credit
JOHOR BAHRU, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach Newswire – 25 September 2026 – GrabSteel, the Malaysian steel distributor founded by Barry Lee Wee Chan and Alvis Chong, has entered into definitive agreements for a committed equity facility of up to US$100 million with White Lion Capital LLC, a United States multi-strategy family office. The facility is the first outside equity commitment in the company’s history and is intended to fund the development of Matcon, GrabSteel’s construction materials platform, as the company builds toward a listing on a United States exchange.
Under the facility, and subject to the terms and conditions of the definitive agreements (including the listing of the company’s shares on a United States exchange, the effectiveness of a registration statement covering the resale of the shares, and customary volume, pricing and ownership limitations), White Lion Capital has committed to purchase GrabSteel shares over the term of the agreement, in tranches and in amounts at the company’s election. The structure lets GrabSteel take capital as Matcon grows rather than in a single round.
A US$220 billion market that still runs on phone calls
Southeast Asia’s construction output exceeds US$465 billion a year and is on course for about US$1 trillion by 2034. The materials inside that flow, from rebar and cement to roofing, pipes and tiles, are worth more than US$220 billion every year. At least US$130 billion of that moves through the channel GrabSteel knows best: distributors, stockists, traders and hardware shops, almost none of whom run any part of the transaction on software.
The way this material is bought has barely changed in thirty years. A price quoted by phone in the morning is stale by lunch. Credit is decided on a relationship rather than a record. Delivery is chased over messaging apps, and a paper delivery note has to find its way back to an office before anyone gets paid. A single order can involve several quotations, a credit negotiation, more than one transporter and days of calls before the material reaches the site with the right documents.
Three forces are now landing on that trade at once. In Johor, a data centre construction boom and the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone are lifting demand for building materials of every kind. Across the region, Indonesia is building a new capital and Vietnam is planning a US$67 billion high-speed rail spine, in one of the largest building cycles anywhere outside China and India. And the technology to read a bill of quantities from a site photograph, price credit from an order history or route a crane truck across a corridor now costs close to nothing per transaction.
The founders are not planning to win the whole market. Their plan needs a single-digit share of the intermediated channel.
Built to US$28 million without outside equity
GrabSteel arrives at this point with a profile that is rare for a company taking its first outside equity: it has grown this far without any. Revenue rose from about US$6.6 million in the 2022 financial year to about US$11.5 million in 2023 and about US$28 million in 2024, more than fourfold in two years and a compound annual growth rate above 100 percent, with a profit in each of those years. The two founders remain the company’s only shareholders.
The company supplies hot rolled coils, hot rolled steel bars, cold rolled coils, galvanised steel, steel plates and alluminium coils to more than 100 customers, among them manufacturers, fabricators, roll formers and contractors across the construction and industrial supply chain. It built that business inside the trade described above. The next step is to make the process itself work better.
“Working in steel trading has shown us where customers lose time: obtaining comparable quotations, coordinating deliveries and collecting the documents they need,” said Barry Lee Wee Chan, Co-Founder of GrabSteel. “Our ambition is to bring these activities together through Matcon. We will start with our own operations, prove that the platform works in real transactions, and build from there.”
Matcon: bringing materials procurement into one platform
Matcon is being developed as GrabSteel’s construction materials platform. It brings enquiries, quotations, order records and delivery documentation into one connected workflow, so that a purchase which today runs across chat threads, phone calls and paper can be followed from first enquiry to signed delivery note in one place.
The initial development priorities are:
- AI-assisted enquiries. Converting photographs, voice notes and text messages into structured material enquiries for the sales desk to review.
- Coordinated quotations. Bringing product requirements, availability and delivered pricing into a clearer purchasing process.
- Delivery visibility. Connecting delivery schedules, proof of delivery and the material certificates that accompany each consignment.
- Transaction records. Building a consistent record of what was bought, when and at what price, to support repeat purchases and, in time, demand forecasting.
The first phase will run GrabSteel’s own steel transactions. That lets the company test the workflows on live orders before opening the platform to other suppliers and to additional material categories. Development is underway. The company is targeting a first internal release, covering its own orders and delivery documentation, by the end of 2026, with a customer-facing app to follow in 2027. Both dates are targets and depend on delivery progress.
Matcon remains in development. The functions described reflect the company’s plans and should not be read as features that are commercially available today.
A phased approach to growth
Malaysia will be the initial market. Expansion into the Singapore corridor and selected Southeast Asian markets will depend on operational readiness, customer demand and local partnerships.
Over time, GrabSteel intends to explore additional categories, including cement, concrete, aggregates, bricks, timber, roofing and pipes. On the supply side, the company has signed memoranda of understanding with a group of steel suppliers whose combined annual sales are between about US$185 million and US$230 million. Those memoranda are a starting point for the supplier network that Matcon will open to in its second phase; the volume they represent is the suppliers’ own sales, not platform volume.
The company also plans to explore financing options for customers through licensed lending partners. Any future credit offering would be subject to partner agreements and applicable requirements, and to the lender’s assessment and approval.
“Materials procurement depends on getting the details right, from product specifications and certificates to delivery at the customer’s site,” said Alvis Chong, Co-Founder of GrabSteel. “Our priority is to make those everyday transactions more reliable and easier to manage. That practical foundation will guide how we develop and expand Matcon.”
Beyond steel
“Steel is where we started, but it is not where we will stop,” Barry Lee said. “We are building toward cement, sand and aggregates because the same problems exist whatever the material. And it is not only about getting a better price. It is about timing. A late delivery does not just cost money, it stalls the workers on site. So alongside the trading side, we are building the ability to track project progress and match deliveries to what is actually happening on the ground, not to what was ordered weeks ago.”
“This trade has run on relationships, phone calls and paperwork for decades,” he added. “We are not naive about how hard it is to bring AI into an industry like this. But if we connect the whole chain, suppliers, mills, yards, drivers and everyone in between, we can take on the trust and inefficiency problems that have sat between suppliers and customers for far too long, and take the unnecessary manual work off our customers’ hands.”
Strategic and technology collaboration
GrabSteel is working with Sky Venture Labs as strategic adviser and technology development partner on Matcon. The collaboration covers platform strategy and the development programe, and draws on GrabSteel’s experience in steel sourcing, trading and fulfilment. The founders continue to lead the business.
Forward-looking statements. This media release contains forward-looking statements regarding GrabSteel’s plans, targets and expectations, including the proposed development and timing of Matcon, the proposed listing of the company’s shares on a United States exchange, market-size estimates and the capital expected to be available under the facility. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside the company’s control. GrabSteel undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement. This media release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall it constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction where doing so would be unlawful. Any securities referred to in this release have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States without registration or an applicable exemption from registration.
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https://www.grabsteel.ai/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/grabsteel
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
GrabSteel
GrabSteel is a Malaysian steel and construction materials company founded in 2019 by Barry Lee Wee Chan and Alvis Chong and based in Johor Bahru. The company supplies hot-rolled coils, cold-rolled coils, hot-rolled steel bars, galvanised steel, steel plates and alluminium coils and other materials to manufacturers, fabricators, roll formers, contractors and businesses across the construction and industrial supply chain. GrabSteel is wholly owned by its two founders and is developing Matcon, a construction materials platform, on the foundation of its trading business.
Website: www.grabsteel.ai | www.matcon.io
White Lion Capital LLC
www.whitelioncapital.com Sky Venture Labs
Sky Wee and Allen Tan Chee Hoe. The www.skyventurelabs.com 
