Trukkin, a Dubai-based transportation platform, announced today that it has raised $7 million in a Series A round headed by Saudi Arabia’s Emkan Capital. Additionally, Impact 46, Taya Group, and other’strategic investors’ participated in the financing. Previously, the business raised $3.5 million in May 2019.
Trukkin, founded in 2017 by Janardan Dalmia, connects shippers and truckers (individuals and businesses) in 12 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, with offices in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. According to its website, the startup’s network includes over 2,000 carriers and 10,000 drivers who have collectively moved more than 50,000 goods. It claims to have tripled in size since the pandemic began.
The company, which began in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, extended to Pakistan in August 2020, becoming the country’s first regional transport marketplace. Trella has since spread into Pakistan, with at least a half-dozen local players opening comparable marketplaces.
Trukkin added that the company is also developing fintech solutions for payments, insurance, and financial services to benefit their carriers and drivers. Janardan Dalmia, founder and CEO of Trukkin, stated that the company is focusing on digitising payments for truck drivers so that they may receive payments instantly and simply, without having to deal with cash.
In a statement announcing the investment, he stated, “I’m extremely proud of the team and the growth we’ve achieved over the last year as we expanded into Pakistan and increased revenue despite Covid’s difficult environment.” We are thrilled to finish the deal with significant investors such as Emkan Capital and Impact46, as it validates our objective of building a world-class regional aggregation platform that enables logistics for shippers and transporters.”
“We believe the logistics industry in the MENAP region has enormous growth potential; the market is sizable at more than $50 billion. At the moment, local fragmented competitors dominate the industry in the region, and we are trying to be an enabler that brings this fragmented market together on a unified, world-class platform to demonstrate collective growth,” added Janardan.
“Trukkin has demonstrated an incredibly efficient use of capital, and we are extremely impressed with what they have accomplished in such a short period of time,” said Ghassan Aloshban, General Partner at Emkan Capital. Its core staff, which has a combined experience of over 200 years in the industry, has demonstrated their skill in not just managing but also driving growth throughout the epidemic. We look forwards to assisting Trukkin in serving hundreds of corporate clients and individual shippers as they aggressively seek reach, capabilities, and company volume expansion and growth.”
According to Abdulrahman Al-Modaimeegh, Managing Partner at Impact46, “looking at Saudi Arabia’s geographic location reveals a high volume of local and regional logistics movement, reflecting a fragmented sector that continues to operate in a traditional manner and lacks innovative/digital solutions.” With its digital services, the Trukkin platform is well-positioned to govern the industry and streamline the supply chain. Trukkin is critical in enabling a group of independent truck drivers to boost their efficiency while keeping customer costs down.”