Egyptian trucking marketplace Trella acquires competitor Trukto

Cairo-based trucking marketplace Trella has acquired competitor Trukto in a move that will create Egypt’s largest technology-enabled trucking and logistics platform.

Trella announced in a statement yesterday that the acquisition will help it to leverage Trukto’s established infrastructure, human capital and network of truckers and shippers to accelerate Trella’s growth strategy in the Middle East and North African region.

The startup said upon completion of operational and network integration it will have more than 10 000 truckers on its platform.

Trukto was founded in 2017 by Ahmed Khedr and Ali Khadr

Trella was founded last year by former Uber executive Omar Hagrass (pictured above, centre) and Pierre Saad (pictured above, right).

This, while Trukto was started in 2017 by Ahmed Khedr and Ali Khadr. The startup built a diverse portfolio of shippers across the agriculture, consumer goods, cement and logistics sectors.

Hagrass declined to comment on how much Trella had acquired Trukto for.

Trella said Khedr will oversee the transition and become a significant shareholder of Trella. This, while Khadr will join Trella as head of growth in a role that will see him lead the company’s ports business.

As part of the deal, Trukto investor and board member Ahmed Fattouh will join Trella’s board.

Hagrass, who is Trella’s CEO, said the startup is “very excited” to welcome Trukto’s customers, employees and shareholders to Trella.

“The combination of Truckto’s complementary product offering and our core tech-based marketplace will strengthen our ability to transform the industry and create more value to our stakeholders,” he added.

Khedr said he is “extremely proud” of the Trukto team which he said pioneered the trucking marketplace model in Egypt arranging over 20 000 loads in two short years.

“We are excited about merging with Trella to execute on our shared vision,” he added.

In August Trella was selected to participate in the S19 batch of Silicon Valley-based accelerator Y Combinator (see this story).

Earlier in the year Trella raised $600 000 in a pre-seed round led by Egyptian venture capital firm Algebra Ventures. The startup’s backers also include NextBillion Ventures and angel investors Esther Dyson and Jambu Palaniappan.

Read more: Egyptian trucking marketplace Trella joins YC’s S19 batch
Read more: Egyptian trucking marketplace Trella raises $600k in pre-seed round

Featured image: Featured image, left to right: Trella head of operations Muhammed El Garem, CEO and co-founder Omar Hagrass, CTO and co-founder Pierre Saad (Supplied)