Egyptian trucking startup, Trella has raised $42 million in equity and debt in a Series A round. The round included $30 million in equity investment and $12 million as debt financing.
The round was led by Maersk Growth, the corporate venture arm of one of the world’s leading shipping and logistics company, Maersk, and Saudi-based Raed Ventures. Other participants in the round include Algebra Ventures, Vision Ventures, Next Billion Ventures, VentureSouq, Foundation Ventures, and Flexport. Lendable provided debt financing alongside other financial institutions.
Founded in 2019 in Cairo, Trella is one of several technology firms around the world seeking to upend traditional truck brokerages and the company currently operates in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.
Trella has over 350 shippers registered on the app, including beverage maker, Coca-Cola, Henkel, Orascom and Maersk, and more than 15,000 mostly independent truck drivers.
Shippers and truckers can directly book freight loads for transport on Trella. The mobile app also provides shippers with the ability to track the freight loads as they are transported.
The new funding round would be used to expand in the Gulf Arab region beyond Saudi Arabia over the next 6-9 months and in East and West Africa over the next 12 months.
The funding would also be used to hire more staff to support its expansion, including for technical and product-related jobs in places like Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
Omar Hagrass, the CEO of Trella said, “This $42 million funding round is a huge endorsement of Trella’s capabilities, business model and market opportunity. We have a strong diversity of investors and we thank all participants for their support. It is great to have Maersk, as a shipper customer that uses Trella, invested in our future growth. The MENAP freight market is a significant one and urgently needs the transparency, reliability, and efficiency that Trella and its technology platform provides. We are trusted and used by some of the world’s most recognizable brands, and look forward to working with our partners to scale across MENAP.”
Omar Almajdouie, Founding Partner of Raed Ventures, said, “Our unwavering belief in the founders coupled with the booming freight sector made the opportunity to lead Trella’s investment round very exciting. Trella’s product innovation has enabled them to grow significantly in the past year despite the tough operating environment. This is a testament to their resilient business model and strong team. We are excited to support the team in their growth journey.”
Jeppe Hoier, Partner at Maersk Growth, said, “We are currently experiencing a rapid development in trucking, as transportation of goods has become accessible to even the smallest companies due to new digital solutions. Trella’s platform is an excellent example of this democratization of the logistics sector. Trella is at the same time our first investment on the African continent founded by a team with significant experience from the start-up scene.”