St. Pete contractor buys building, launches AI-fueled startup

As the owner of St. Pete-based design-build firm TGA Kitchens & Remodeling, Tomer Amar says he was using “50 different programs” to handle all the tasks that needed to be done each day. For example, one program was for invoicing while another processed pictures and videos from the field. 

To make life simpler, the entrepreneur — who started out his career as an engineer — began designing his own software. About a year ago, Amar launched Kaliun, which he describes as an “AI-first construction CRM” that helps builders manage everything from proposals to jobs. Kaliun has about 58 contractors nationwide among its users and nine outsourced software engineers working on the product. 

Photo by Mark Wemple

“Each contractor that uses Kaliun averages about $15 million to $20 million a year,” Amar says. “So it shows big success, especially for our people in California. We have contractors in California and Washington that have about 100 to 200 employees that use the software every single day.”

In March, he raised $250,000 for Kaliun, and he says he’s planning another, larger funding round by the end of the year.

Amar also has another business milestone coming up: moving TGA Kitchens & Remodeling into a larger building he just bought in St. Petersburg. 

When he started the company in 2021, he says, it was a small office in Ellenton, north Manatee County. Now, TGA Kitchens & Remodeling operates a 4,000-square-foot showroom on 62nd Ave. N. in St. Pete and has six full-time employees in addition to dozens of contractors and subcontractors. Soon it will be expanding into a 15,000-square-foot standalone building Amar says he purchased in September on 66th Avenue. He plans to move the company there in the next three to four months — after remodeling it, of course.

Amar’s mentor is his wife, Gaby Perez, who he says has allowed him to see things from another perspective. A reminder she offers in a joking way, he says, is “pressure makes diamonds.” She says that “every time I feel stressed,” Amar says. “She helps me with the business and reminds me that I don’t have to figure everything out alone.”