Egyptian B2B trucking marketplace Trella has secured a significant debt facility from Contact Financial Holding, the leading Egyptian non-banking financial services company, to expand its business in a number of ways.
Founded in 2018, Trella is a B2B technology platform and trucking marketplace connecting shippers with carriers in real-time. Active across the Middle East and Pakistan, the startup has more than 350 shipper partners including blue-chip brands such as Coca-Cola, Maersk, Mondi, Henkel, Amazon, and DHL. It also has over 30,000 carrier partners.
Disrupt Africa reported in June last year Trella had completed a US$42 million Series A funding round, comprising US$30 million in equity and US$12 million in debt facilities, to help it expand, and it has now followed that up with further, undisclosed, debt capital from Contact. The two companies are partnering up through four different subsidiaries within Contact – Contact Factoring, Contact Leasing, Contact Credit, and Contact Creditech. Each agreement provides a tailored service to finance Trella’s working capital needs, its carrier base, truck spare parts, and maintenance services, supporting Trella’s ongoing rollout in Egypt and its regional expansion.
Contact Factoring signed a financing agreement to finance Trella Egypt’s working capital needs. This strategic collaboration also serves Trella through Contact Financial Holding’s other two subsidiaries, Contact Credit and Contact Leasing; they will finance Trella’s carrier base to purchase trucks for either individual carriers or MSMEs owning a number of trucks and wishing to increase their fleet.
Additionally, as part of Contact Financial Holding’s collaboration with Trella to support and ensure the continuity of their truck drivers, Contact Creditech, which specialises in consumer finance, will finance Trella carriers’ purchases on Trella Store, an e-commerce platform designed by the company to provide trucking products such as tires, brakes, engine lubricants, maintenance services, and other trucking necessities.
“We are fortunate to have Contact as one of our partners to provide different financing solutions to our customers. The supply chain has been witnessing a lot of innovation lately, but not as much was felt on scaling financing options to the stakeholders involved. Through our partnership with Contact, we are going to avail ancillary financing solutions to our carriers, in addition to sourcing working capital facilities to our trucking business, getting us one step closer towards achieving our vision to empower our communities,” said Omar Hagrass, CEO of Trella.
Said Zater, CEO of Contact Financial Holding, said Contact had always been keen on exploring and supporting new startup businesses.
“We are very proud to partner with Trella and provide them with the financial solutions needed to expand their business. Contact integrates the tech-based system and the company’s dynamic efforts toward enabling emerging digital platforms to support financial inclusion initiatives spearheading the lending-as-a-service in Egypt,” he said.
