In addition to receiving a non-banking financial company (NBFC) licence, Trukkr, a fintech platform for Pakistan’s trucking sector, said on Tuesday that it had collected $6.4 million in a fundraising round.
Trukkr is special in that it offers fintech to digitise the predominantly unbanked and undocumented sector. It provides small- and medium-sized trucking enterprises in Pakistan with a transport management system and supply chain solutions.
Accion Venture Lab, located in the US, and Sturgeon Capital, based in London, led the seed fundraising round. According to a statement from Trukkr, the round also included investors Peter Findley, Al Zayani Venture Capital, and Haitou Global.
The company’s business strategy has been modified for the Pakistani market but is similar to those used by Kargo in Indonesia, Solvento in Mexico, and Kobo 360 in Africa.
Trukkr’s CEO and co-founder Sheryar Bawany told Reuters that the company planned to provide financial products with a “fair risk adjusted spread” in comparison to the industry standard Karachi Interbank Offered Rate (KIBOR).
Over 20,000 drivers, according to co-founder Mishal Adamjee, work for 100 of the largest enterprises in the nation, including Shan Foods, Artistic Milliners, International Industries Limited, and Lucky Cement.
Despite a lack of adequate rail and water freight facilities, Adamjee told Reuters that Pakistan’s $35 billion per year trucking business is expanding at a 10% yearly rate.
The Covid epidemic, according to investor Accion Venture Lab, demonstrated just how dependent the globe is on international supply networks.
“We want to bet on a company striving to tackle inefficiencies in a market filled with opportunities,” it said in the statement.
According to Pakistans Board of Investment, projected demand for freight transport will double by 2025 and increase six-fold by 2050 to 600 billion freight tonnes-kilometre, particularly as the China Pakistan Economic Corridor kicks in.