Grace Ashiru
Trella, an Egypt-based B2B truck-hailing platform, has announced that it has received a $6 million debt funding from ALMA Sustainable Finance (ALMA) and the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to support its operations’ growth.
- Trella is a B2B technology platform and trucking marketplace that has been around since 2018. It connects shippers and carriers in real-time. The startup is active in the Middle East and Pakistan. It has more than 350 shipper partners, including well-known companies like Coca-Cola, Maersk, Mondi, Henkel, Amazon, and DHL. It also works with more than 30,000 carriers.
- Trella closed a $42 million Series A funding round in June of last year, which included $30 million in equity and $12 million in debt facilities to help it grow. Contact Financial Holdings again gave the new business an undisclosed debt capital last month.
- “In an industry like ours, we need new sources of capital to keep proliferating and reach the thousands of truckers across the region who need help to get more shipments, faster payments, and other important services,” Omar Hagrass, CEO of Trella, said in a statement.
- ALMA’s debt financing, backed by the DFC guarantee, will help Trella’s platform for MSME truckers grow in low- and middle-income countries like Egypt and Pakistan, where MSME businesses provide most of the jobs but have trouble running their businesses. Both USAID/Pakistan and USAID/Egypt will be able to help with the project technically.
