Trella, Egypt’s B2B Digital Trucking Marketplace Secures $6M in Debt Funding
Trella, Egypt’s B2B Tech Platform and trucking marketplace, has secured $6 million in debt financing from ALMA Sustainable Finance (ALMA) and the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to support its growth.
Trella, which was founded in 2018, is a B2B technology platform and trucking marketplace that connects corporate shippers in real time with trucking carriers. The startup, which operates in the Middle East and Pakistan, has over 350 shipper partners, including blue-chip companies such as Coca-Cola, Maersk, Mondi, Henkel, Amazon, and DHL. In 2021, it facilitated over two million tons of shipments and has over 30,000 carrier partners.
ALMA’s debt financing of Trella, backed by the DFC guaranty, will aid in the expansion of Trella’s platform for MSME truckers in lower-middle-income countries such as Egypt and Pakistan, where MSMEs employ the majority of people but face operational challenges. Both USAID/Pakistan and USAID/Egypt will provide technical assistance to the project.
Commenting on the round, Gautam Ivatury, managing partner at ALMA Sustainable Finance said “We are very pleased to have the support of DFC to be able to extend more capital to high-growth digital businesses such as Trella. As debt lenders, we want to extend more financing in lower-middle-income countries such as Pakistan and Egypt, and having the DFC guaranty facility allows us to reach more companies in these regions and have broader development impacts.”
Omar Hagrass, CEO of Trella said “Trella’s operations will benefit greatly from the additional debt financing extended by ALMA with the support of the DFC guaranty. In an industry like ours, we need new sources of capital to maintain our high-growth trajectory and reach the thousands of truckers across the region that need support to access more shipments, faster payments, and other integral services.”
What you should know about Trella
This comes after a year since the startup completed a $42 million Series A funding round, comprising $30 million in equity and $12 million in debt facilities, to help it expand. Also, Trella announced a strategic partnership with Contact Financial Holding late last month to disrupt the mobility market and expand across the MENA region.