Sarah Sassoon

Pakistan

South Asia

Access Usage Gap

Credit

Delivery Channels

Digital Financial Services

Enabling Environment

Financial Service Providers

Fintechs

Human Centered Design

Impact Investing

MSME/SME Finance

Underserved Groups

Entrepreneurs of MSMEs

Financial Technology

Video

Article

Press Release

Trukkr

[embed]https://youtu.be/sQ_4qp0PdZk[/embed]

“It enables truck drivers to be businessmen, versus the way they are now, which is daily wage laborers,” said Mishal Adamjee, Co-Founders of Trukkr, an online logistics platform aiming to revolutionize Pakistan trucking sector.

Read more about <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/pakistani-fintech-startup-trukkr-raises-64-mln-gets-lending-licence-2023-03-07/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Accion Venture Lab's investment in Trukkr</a>.

Here's <a href="https://www.accion.org/digital-solutions-for-pakistans-small-trucking-businesses" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">why we invested in Trukkr</a>.

Inclusive fintech leader stories: Mishal Adamjee, Co-Founder of Trukkr

<img class="wp-image-27796 alignright" src="https://content.accion.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/3-Truck-1024x1024.jpeg" alt="A truck in Pakistan" width="415" height="415" />

Across Pakistan, hundreds of thousands of truck drivers are hired by corporate clients to transport goods throughout the country. The vast majority of the country’s trucking companies are family-owned small businesses that own just a few trucks and often lack the resources and financial support needed to strengthen their businesses. Now, technology is opening pathways to growth within the traditional logistics industry in Pakistan.

<a href="https://trukkr.pk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Trukkr</a> is a Pakistan-based startup focused on solving the problems faced by micro, small, and medium sized (MSME) trucking companies and their corporate clients. Trukkr is our second investment in Pakistan and our first in the shipping and logistics industry worldwide. The company’s digital solutions are ready to revolutionize Pakistan’s trucking sector and open opportunities for drivers and businesses in the industry.
<h3>Speed bumps for MSME truckers and their clients</h3>
Pakistan’s trucking sector is stuck in the past. Most trucking businesses in the country are small operations that work with just two or three of their own trucks. They often have to cover operational expenses from their own pockets, as they can wait up to 90 days for clients to pay them for deliveries. This working capital crunch means that small-scale truckers cannot afford to take on new jobs, preventing them from growing their businesses in a scalable way.

Large corporations are also facing many obstacles. They cannot access technologically enabled tools that can map their end-to-end logistics processes. Trukkr found that the most significant challenges corporations face include a lack of data on the movement of goods, high incidences of pilferage, and difficulty finding trucks for spot consignments, among others.

Pakistan ranked 122 out of 160 in the <a href="https://lpi.worldbank.org/international/global" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">World Bank’s 2018 logistics performance index</a>, falling below other countries in the region, including India and Bangladesh, and achieved low scores in tracking, tracing, and timeliness. Trukkr is working hard to provide solutions to these key areas. By improving the sector across Pakistan, they’re also opening a wealth of opportunity for the company’s future and growth.
<h3>Delivering solutions for truckers in Pakistan</h3>
To solve these pain points, Trukkr has created an app that Pakistan’s trucking businesses can use to track trip-related expenses and invoices. Trukkr then uses the in-platform trucker data to underwrite financial services, beginning with working capital loans, for these MSMEs who otherwise lack access to financing. In the future, Trukkr aims to leverage platform data to design a full suite of digital financial services and products for its customers, including more sophisticated loan products, insurance products, and more.

On the other end, corporations use Trukkr’s Transport Management System (TMS) to track their shipments, post open jobs, and improve efficiency in moving their products. Both sets of stakeholders – truckers and shippers – meet in the middle on Trukkr’s platform, providing seamless and digitized communication between all parties involved.
<h3>In the driver’s seat</h3>
Accion Venture Lab first found out about Trukkr from <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mishal-adamjee-77025b27/?originalSubdomain=pk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mishal Adamjee</a>, one of its five co-founders. The company’s co-founder and CEO, Sheryar Bawany, has more than ten years of experience in Pakistan’s supply chain and logistics industry. His deep operational background working on the ground in the sector has allowed him to scale up the company’s customer acquisition strategy quickly.

Ali Reza Haji, co-founder and CFO, has worked across both finance and shipping and logistics globally. He previously worked at Nomura in London before returning home to Pakistan.

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kasra-zunnaiyyer-81698a112/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kasra Zunnaiyyer</a>, Trukkr’s chief technology officer and another of the company’s co-founders, graduated in computer science at Karachi University, in Pakistan, before studying leadership and innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Trukkr’s CBO, co-founder <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/waqas-khatri-8aa878191/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Waqas Khatri</a>, has a background in engineering and biotechnology and excelled as the director of strategy and new initiatives at chemical company Ittehad Chemicals Limited before joining Trukkr.

The founders’ deep experience across their specific focus areas, which include supply chain and logistics, finance, and corporate strategy, is impressive. We appreciate their thoughtful approach, ease of communication, and honesty when admitting to challenges, and we are excited to partner with them.

Hear more about Trukkr from co-founder Mishal Adamjee:

[embed]https://youtu.be/sQ_4qp0PdZk[/embed]
<h3>Roadmap to success</h3>
With Pakistan’s trucking industry still largely analog, Trukkr sees a huge opportunity to digitize the industry and impact its stakeholders. Furthermore, as recent flooding devastated the country and displaced millions of people, efforts to rebuild will require streamlined logistics management, and Trukkr has only seen demand for its products increase in the months since the flooding began in August. With its new funding, the company plans to expand its business throughout Pakistan and grow its base of MSME truckers, and their corporate clients, in the process.

The coronavirus pandemic showed how much the world relies on global supply chains. At Accion Venture Lab, we want to bet on a company striving to tackle inefficiencies in a market filled with opportunities.

Trukkr is driving towards a bright future as the one-stop shop for Pakistan’s trucking industry, and we could not be more excited to join them on this journey.

<hr />

<em>Read more about Trukkr, the newest Accion Venture Lab portfolio company, in <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/pakistani-fintech-startup-trukkr-raises-64-mln-gets-lending-licence-2023-03-07/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a>.</em>

Digital solutions for Pakistan’s small trucking businesses

<strong>Karachi, Pakistan, March 7th, 2023</strong> – Trukkr, a fintech platform for Pakistan’s trucking industry, announced today that it has raised $6.4 million in a seed round led by Accion Venture Lab and Sturgeon Capital, with participation from Peter Findley, Haitou Global and Al Zayani Venture Capital.

Trukkr’s SaaS platform provides supply chain solutions and financial products to Pakistan’s small and medium-sized trucking companies that are historically underserved. Less than 5% of trucking companies using Trukkr’s platform have access to financial services, and often must wait up to 90 days for payment for services rendered, leaving companies unable to cover expenses such as fuel, tolls, and truck maintenance. Trukkr fills this critical gap in financing by using logistics data to underwrite loans to trucking companies, enabling them to scale their businesses and increase revenues. Companies are also able to track their expenses, access invoices, and bid on job opportunities via Trukkr’s digital app.

Trukkr also addresses pain points for large suppliers with its proprietary SaaS product, allowing supplier clients to digitally connect with trucking companies to transport their goods, track their shipments as they move, and optimize efficiency. Over the past 12 months, the company has added more than 20,000 trucking companies onto the Trukkr Platform.

“Trukkr was founded to drive financial inclusion for an underserved sector that is the lifeblood of Pakistan – logistics. Pakistan is a largely industrial and agrarian export-based economy, and being a largely fragmented sector, we have worked incredibly hard at the grassroots level to build trust and digitize the 350,000+ independent operators that constitute more than 90% of all truck drivers in Pakistan,” said <strong>Sheryar Bawany, CEO and Co-Founder of Trukkr</strong>.

“We’re extremely excited to bring onboard amazing partners as we continue our growth and expansion. We have built a powerful engine of growth and inclusion, with a unique origination and underwriting model built for developing markets that has enabled us to grow smartly, safely, and scale-ably across an ever-changing global economic landscape,” added <strong>Mishal Adamjee, Co-Founder of Trukkr</strong>.

“Truck drivers are the backbone of the Pakistani economy, ferrying essential goods and services across the country, but formal financial institutions struggle to support these drivers. Trukkr’s logistics platform provides Pakistan’s truck drivers with the digital financial services and products they need to grow their businesses, while also creating a more robust, digitalized supply chain,” said <strong>Rahil Rangwala, co-Managing Partner of Accion Venture Lab</strong>. “We are excited to support Trukkr’s journey as they transform Pakistan’s logistics market.”

“When we think about fintech lending businesses in emerging markets, two of the key challenges startups must solve for are data and distribution. This data challenge is exacerbated in the opaque, offline trucking market in Pakistan there and the participants have historically been chronically underserved by traditional financial institutions,” said <strong>Robin Butler, Partner and Head of Impact at Sturgeon Capital</strong>. “Trukkr’s solution to this challenge is unique, powerful, and scalable. Through its software solutions, Trukkr is deeply embedded and integrated into the workflows of both the corporates and the truckers, providing Trukkr with high quality data and a ready distribution channel for working capital and other lending products. Combined with the complimentary depth and breadth of experience across the founding team, Sturgeon is excited to be backing Trukkr as it continues to solve the key pain points of the large and inefficient trucking industry in Pakistan.”

<hr />

<h3>About Trukkr</h3>
Trukkr Pvt Ltd. is a fintech company aimed at providing financial inclusive products to the $35b logistics sector in Pakistan through its technology enterprise platform, which allows users to manage their logistics supply chain while providing small and medium sized carriers financial products aimed at improving financial outcomes for a historically underserved market.
<h3>About Accion Venture Lab</h3>
Accion Venture Lab is a leading early-stage impact investor in inclusive fintech startups, focused on affordable, well-designed financial services that enable economic growth and prosperity for underserved populations in the world. It has invested in more than 60 early-stage startups operating in more than 35 countries, focusing on the most innovative models and technologies delivering quality financial services to underserved households and small businesses with the potential to scale.

Accion Venture Lab is a part of Accion, a global non-profit committed to creating a financially inclusive world, with a trailblazing legacy in microfinance and fintech impact investing. Since 1961, Accion has increased access to inclusive financial services for tens of millions of people through its work with more than 200 partners in 63 countries.

For more information, visit <a href="http://accion.org/venturelab" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">accion.org/venturelab</a>.
<h3>About Sturgeon Capital</h3>
Sturgeon Capital is a London-based VC investing in early-stage technology startups in emerging markets at the beginning of their digital transition. Sturgeon is a for-profit and for-impact investor, and its portfolio companies are solving the fundamental problems affecting the day to day lives of businesses and consumers.

Trukkr raises $6.4 million from Accion Venture Lab and Sturgeon Capital to digitize Pakistan’s trucking industry

Trukkr

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Inclusive fintech leader stories: Mishal Adamjee, Co-Founder of Trukkr

Digital solutions for Pakistan’s small trucking businesses

Trukkr raises $6.4 million from Accion Venture Lab and Sturgeon Capital to digitize Pakistan’s trucking industry