TruKKer, MENA’s largest digital trucking freight platform, announced that it has signed a $10 million strategic venture debt agreement with San Francisco-based specialty lending firm, Partners for Growth (PFG).
The transaction marks the first venture debt deal of this scale for any technology business in the Middle East, as well as the first deal for PFG in the region.
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 deal follows a $23 million equity raise by TruKKer in late 2019, which was one of the largest Series A funding rounds in the region.
Since its inception in 2016, TruKKer has rapidly grown to become the largest digital freight network in the MENA region, bringing together a fleet of 25,000+ trucks and 500+ B2B customers on to its platform, including leading multi-national consumer products companies.
Amit Agarwal, TruKKer’s Group CFO, highlights: “We are disrupting a very fragmented industry, both operationally and commercially, by using advanced data science and technology tools.
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"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 are very happy and proud to have a world-class institution like PFG on board.”
The region has complex debt issuance and recourse laws, which makes such transactions challenging for high-growth tech companies like TruKKer.
PFG’s managing director, Jason Geogatos, notes: “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."
The transaction is PFG’s first in the region and demonstrates the quickly maturing tech ecosystem in the Middle East.
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.
Amit Agarwal concludes: “We are proud to be in a position to finance this very enterprising and hard-working group that currently faces unorganized processes and poor access to conventional financing products.
"TruKKer’s core business and technology offer key data-driven metrics that allows us to service their needs in a mutually beneficial way.”
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