Pakistan's Trukkr raises $6.4M SEED
Trukkr, a FinTech platform for Pakistan’s trucking industry, has raised $6.4M in a SEED funding round and also received a non-banking financial company (NBFC) license.
Request specific data sets, export tailored directories, and explore the full potential of our Platform. Reach out to our Sales Team
Pakistan’s Trukkr has raised $6.4M in SEED funding led by US-based Accion Venture Lab and London-based Sturgeon Capital. Haitou Global, Al Zayani Venture Capital, and angel investors also participated in the round. Trukkr offers Pakistan’s small- and medium-sized trucking companies a transport management system and supply chain solutions and provides fintech to digitize the largely unbanked and undocumented industry.
The Pakistani VC ecosystem came on the radar in 2021 having raised over $300M in funding, more than what the country had seen in the past five years. While regional investors have been backing Pakistan-based startups, the country is one of the emerging markets that boasts high international investor participation. In 2022, almost 70% of the investors were from outside the region seeing an increase of 8PP compared to the previous year, as seen in our FREE 2023 Emerging Venture Markets Investment. US-based SOSV made the most investments while Veon, a Netherlands-based global digital operator, deployed the most capital in a single round, Dastgyr’s $37M Series A. In terms of regional investors, i2i Ventures and Indus Valley Capital are the most active by deals, and deployed capital.
Access our suite of reports covering MENA, Africa, Pakistan & Turkey. Browse our latest and pick your data focus
Trukkr said less than 5% of trucking companies using its platform have access to financial services, often having to wait up to 90 days for payments and leaving them unable to cover expenses such as fuel, tolls, and truck maintenance. Sheryar Bawany, Trukkr CEO, and co-founder told Reuters that it was looking to launch financial products at a “reasonable risk adjusted spread” to the benchmark Karachi Interbank Offered Rate (Kibor).
Co-founder Mishal Adamjee said that Pakistan’s $35 billion a-year trucking industry is growing at 10% annually despite limited rail and water freight infrastructure. Investor Accion Venture Lab said the Covid pandemic had shown how much the world relied on global supply chains. “We want to bet on a company striving to tackle inefficiencies in a market filled with opportunities.”
Get a diagnosis of the landscape with real-time data on 600+ startups in Pakistan
Source: reuters.com