Partners for Growth is thrilled to partner with TruKKer, the largest digital freight network in the Middle East, in a milestone transaction that marks our first deal in Dubai while also serving as a landmark transaction for the region’s startup and venture ecosystem. Following years of increased venture capital activity and investor appetite, debt capital is now becoming available to provide additional growth and expansion funding for emerging growth companies. PFG was introduced to TruKKer by our friends and partners at SVB Global Gateway.
Having collaborated with Trukker’s team to structure a tailored $10 million line of credit to support further growth, PFG looks forward to bringing our venture debt and growth capital lending solutions to tech companies across the Middle East region.
Read more about TruKKer’s capital raise and plans on Bloomberg: Middle East’s ‘Uber for Trucks’ to Seek New Funding
The transaction, PFG’s first in the region, demonstrates the quickly maturing tech ecosystem in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which is gaining attention with international funds. According to startup data platform MAGNiTT, 2019 saw more international institutions invest in MENA-based startups than any previous year, accounting for 25% of investors.
Describing PFG’s attraction to the opportunity to support the digital freight network’s expansion, PFG’s Max Penel notes “TruKKer’s impressive growth in the MENA region speaks to their strong value proposition: disrupting a fragmented and opaque logistics market with a simple and more efficient way of transporting goods. The Company continues to cement its leading position in the market by generating a virtuous cycle where less empty return trips, more reliable demand and better cashflow has generated a very sticky truck driver base and has in-turn provided certainty and competitive pricing for the transporters. TruKKer’s management team proved its adaptive approach by quickly finding work-arounds to temporary closures to cross-border transit, while also using the opportunity to grow their domestic market significantly. We look forward to a strong partnership with TruKKer and its team.”
The debt will be used to finance working capital needs required for the instant payment of thousands of transporters operating on TruKKer’s network. The region, however, has complex debt issuance and recourse laws, which can make lending transactions challenging for high-growth tech companies like TruKKer. PFG was compelled to structure a custom solution to solve these complexities, as PFG’s managing director, Jason Georgatos, added “TruKKer offers a very interesting proposition for a debt fund to support a diverse and growing portfolio of debtors with a custom facility tailored to enable the company’s rapid expansion. We are very excited about working with the TruKKer team to provide capital to help them scale their impressive platform harnessing the trend of increasing technological adoption to deliver efficiencies across the massive freight industry across the Middle East.”
TruKKer CFO, Amit Agarwal, highlights, “We are disrupting a very fragmented industry, both operationally and commercially, by using advanced data science and technology tools. One of our essential capabilities is the ability to finance instant payments to the small transporters and owner-operators, while offering standard credit terms for enterprise clients. We have a very diverse and high-quality client base with three years of consistent payment cycles. Having demonstrated performance and substantial growth, financing our expanding working capital needs with a structured debt facility was an obvious next step for us. We are very happy and proud to have a world-class institution like PFG on board.”
PFG looks forward to the partnership with TruKKer and the opportunity to continue to support their rapid growth and hopes to work with other emerging technology companies as we get increasingly familiar with the MENA markets and build strong relationships in the region.
About TruKKer
TruKKer services 500+ businesses for their daily transportation requirements, as the platform connects 25,000+ trucks across the Middle East and North Africa. TruKKer currently employs over 175 people in UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, uplifting the lives of thousands of drivers and cutting costs for shippers by connecting them digitally, improving load utilisation, providing a transparent pricing structure, and improving the efficiency across the logistics sector. TruKKer is currently operating in five countries in the Middle East and North Africa and is presently executing on a wider regional expansion including launching its services in Pakistan.
