Trukkr Raises $6.4 Million in funding & Gets NBFC License

Trukkr, a fintech platform for the trucking industry in Pakistan, recently announced that it had collected $6.4 million in a fundraising round and got a non-banking financial company (NBFC) license. Trukkr provides a transport management system and supply chain solutions to small and medium-sized trucking enterprises in Pakistan and is the only fintech company to digitize this mostly unbanked and undocumented industry.

It is pertinent to mention here that the seed fundraising round was sponsored by Accion Venture Lab and Sturgeon Capital, both based in the United States. Trukkr said in a statement that Haitou Global, Al Zayani Venture Capital, and investor Peter Findley also participated in the round.

The company’s business model is the same as compared to Kargo in Indonesia, Solvento in Mexico, and Kobo 360 in Africa, but it has been modified for the Pakistani market. Trukkr reported that fewer than 5% of trucking companies using its network had access to financial services, leaving them unable to finance expenses like gasoline, tolls, and truck upkeep.

Sheryar Bawany, CEO and co-founder of Trukkr, told Reuters that the company intended to provide financial products with a “fair risk-adjusted spread” relative to the benchmark Karachi Interbank Offered Rate (KIBOR).

On the other hand, Mishal Adamjee, co-founder of Trukkr, stated that there are over 20,000 drivers on the platform, servicing 100 of the country’s largest enterprises, including Shan Foods, Artistic Milliners, International Industries Limited, and Lucky Cement.

Despite insufficient rail and water freight facilities, Adamjee told Reuters that Pakistan’s $35 billion trucking business grows at a rate of 10% yearly. Accion Venture Lab, an investor, stated that the Covid pandemic demonstrated how dependent the globe is on global supply networks.

In a statement, the business said, “We want to bet on a company that strives to address inefficiencies in a market ripe with potential.”

Pakistan’s Board of Investment predicts that freight transport demand would quadruple by 2025 and expand sixfold to 600 billion freight tonnes-kilometers by 2050, particularly if the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor becomes operational. In Pakistan, other freight marketplace startups include Truck It In, BridgeLinx, and Freightix.

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