- The firm offers transportation management systems to trucking companies.
- The company’s business model is similar to Cargo in Indonesia.
- Pakistan’s $35 billion annual trucking industry is growing at a rate of 10 percent annually.
Karachi: Tirukar, A Fintech platform For Pakistan’s trucking industry, on Tuesday it said it has raised $6.4 million in a funding round and has also received a non-banking finance company (NBFC) licence.
Trukkr offers transport management system and supply chain solutions to small and medium trucking companies in Pakistan and is unique in providing fintech to digitize the largely unbanked and undocumented industry.
The seed funding round was led by US-based Action Venture Lab and London-based Sturgeon Capital. Hito Global, Alzayani Venture Capital and investor Peter Findlay also participated in the round, Trukar said in a statement.
The company’s business model is similar to Cargo in Indonesia, Solvento in Mexico and Kobo 360 in Africa, but adapted to the Pakistan market.
Trukkr said less than 5% of trucking companies using its platform have access to financial services, often waiting up to 90 days for payments and covering expenses such as fuel, tolls and truck maintenance. are unable to fulfill
Sheryar Bavani, Trukkr’s CEO and co-founder, told Reuters that he was looking to launch financial products at a “reasonable risk-adjusted spread” over the benchmark Karachi Interbank Offered Rate (KIBOR).
Co-founder Mishal Adamji said that Tirukar has around 20,000 drivers on its platform, serving 100 of the country’s largest companies, including Shaun Foods, Artistic Milliners, International Industries Ltd and Lucky Cement.
Adamji said Reuters Pakistan’s $35 billion-a-year trucking industry is growing at a rate of 10 percent a year despite limited rail and water freight infrastructure.
Investor Action Venture Lab said the Covid pandemic has shown how dependent the world is on global supply chains.
“We want to bet on a company trying to deal with setbacks in a market full of opportunities,” he said in the statement.
According to the Pakistan Board of Investment, the expected demand for freight transport will double by 2025 and increase sixfold to 600 billion freight tonne-km by 2050, especially when the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is launched. happening
Other freight markets Startups in Pakistan Truck It In, BridgeLinx and Freightix are included.