Trella completes $42-million Series-A funding round for MENAP expansion: CEO Omar Hagrass

The Egypt-based B2B* technology platform Trella has completed a $42-million Series-A funding round to expand in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAP), Disrupt Africa reported.

Led by a string of venture capitalists, the round involves $30 million in equity and $12 million in debt facilities for the expansion.

Trella plans to invest the funds in tech capacity and product development to fuel growth.

In a statement, Trella Founder and CEO Omar Hagrass rated the $42-million round as an endorsement of Trella’s capabilities, business model and market opportunity.

“We have a strong diversity of investors and we thank all participants for their support,” he said.

Maersk Growth and Raed Ventures, a Saudi venture capital firm, led the round. Maersk Growth is the corporate venture arm of integrated logistics multinational A.P. Moller-Maersk Group.

Other participating VCs included Vision Ventures, Algebra Ventures, Next Billion Ventures, Venture Souq, Foundation Ventures and Flexport.

Disrupt Africa further cited Lendable, the next-generation lending platform, and other undisclosed local financial institutions as providers of debt facilities for the startup.

Trella

Since founding Trella in 2018, the startup has made significant progress on the Egyptian market with top brands like Coca-Cola, Maersk, Mondi, Henkel, Orascom and Cemex in its client portfolio. Trella connects shippers with carriers in real-time and has over 350 shipping partners.

Before founding Trella, Hagrass was a launch and expansion manager for Uber. He led the launch of Uber Eats in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He further launched the product in more than 50 cities in the UAE, South Africa, Egypt and the United Kingdom.

*B2B simply means “business to business.” The term encompasses all companies that create products and services geared toward other businesses.