Trukkin raises $3.5 million in recent round of funding
Times News Service
MUSCAT: As “on demand” services expand into more industries and market places, Trukkin is leading the way in digital logistics solutions for long-haul trucking. Launched in 2017, Trukkin is a techno-logistics firm based in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates operating throughout the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region and beyond. The company works to innovate and simplify logistics and land transportation.
Trukkin has raised over $3.5 million in the recent funding round, which included marquee investors from the Al Namlah Family Group, the Al Madi Family Group, and the Abanumay Family Group. Batic Investments and Logistics, a publicly listed company on Tadawul, remains as one of the key investors in the start-up.
“Trukkin’s vision, operational efficiency, capital utilisation, and sound business model drove us to partner with them in the region over other competitors. Trukkin knows the pulse on the ground.” said Mohamed Al Namlah, Managing Director of Amnest Group.
By adding the new capital to the company, Trukkin will be able to significantly scale their services across the GCC region. The company has shipped to over 200 locations in the Middle East. In Saudi Arabia alone, Trukkin has completed over 10,000 longhaul, business-to-business truck movements. That is a significant accomplishment given that the country represents nearly 50 per cent of the overall GCC market opportunity. Investor Al Madi explained that they had been following the sector for months and were impressed with what Trukkin has been able to achieve. “Their team is very focused on the ground and has shown their operational prowess. We believe we can further add significant capabilities to Trukkin with our investment,” Al Madi said.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer Janardan Dalmia explained how their model works. “Trukkin operates on an ‘assetlight’ model, meaning it doesn’t own the trucks. Our focus on overall service lets us improve both the customer and transporter experience and also increase asset utilisation and reduce inefficiencies.”
Trukkin serves a wide range of customers. Through its app and online marketplace, the company brings together shippers who need more transparency and easier access to trucks with truckers who need better access to demand and higher fleet utilisation. Their client base ranges from businesses who order close to 100 trucks a day to ones with smaller needs who order as few as three trucks a month.
Trukkin is fully aligned with the Saudi Vision 2030 plan to diversify the country’s infrastructure, with a specific focus on the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP). The NIDLP is working to make Saudi Arabia a “leading industrial powerhouse and a global logistics hub.”
CEO Dalmia says the company’s aggressive growth strategy fully supports the vision. “Trukkin is building up its marketplace to connect thousands of mostly independent truckers. The longhaul land transport market is highly fragmented and disorganised, and our aim is to institutionalise and professionalise this business,” Dalmia explained.
Trukkin is one of several startups gaining global recognition in the new industry. In 2018, a Wall Street Journal headline noted that China’s Truck Alliance, a truck hailing company, was on course for a $10 billion valuation. Blackbuck, India’s largest trucking platform, was named CNBC’s 2018 Startup of the Year reaching unicorn status in 2019.