Trella, Egyptian Trucking Marketplace, Scores Over $600,000 In Pre-Seed Round

Egyptian startup ​Trella​, a marketplace connecting shippers with carriers, just raised over $600,000 in a pre-seed funding round led by ​Algebra Ventures​, with participation from strategic investors, global VCs, and notable angel investors including Esther Dyson and Jambu Palaniappan.

"Building on the fantastic success of ride-hailing startups, we built a similar solution for the freight industry in the region to improve efficiency throughout the supply chain," says Trella's co-founder Hagrass. "The interest in our solution has been overwhelming, both from businesses who want to use our technology, and from truckers who are getting significantly more value and more consistent flow of business through our platform. We’re optimising truckers’ routes so they’re no longer driving empty."

“I love companies that make complex things simpler – but not too simple,” says angel investor Esther Dyson, executive founder of Wellville. “Trella’s combination of Hagrass’ real-world logistics experience and [Co-founder Pierre] Saad’s tech wizardry is perfect for the task of making the region’s trucking infrastructure more transparent and efficient.”

Since establishment in 2018, Trella has been addressing an enormous pain-point in a deeply fragmented industry plagued by asset under-utilisation and a lack of transparency, consistency, and reliability, Trella’s tech platform is pi​quing the interests of investors and businesses. ​The tech platform empowers drivers and reduces costs for shippers by improving load utilisation and efficiency, offering transparent pricing schedules, and enabling shipment tracking in real-time.

The large and highly fragmented freight market in Egypt is ripe for technological disruption; Algebra Ventures’ Managing Partner Karim Hussein believes that the “superstar” team behind Trella could be one of the few that will successfully penetrate it. “We are excited to be joined by a group of capable and experienced co-investors who will help accelerate Trella’s growth in the short run and support it in subsequent financings,” he adds.