Cairo - Egyptian digital freight marketplace Trella recently raised $6 million in debt funding from ALMA Sustainable Finance and the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

Valued at $4.2 million, the guarantee facility will enable ALMA to deploy $6 million in debt financing and endorse Trella’s business in Pakistan and Egypt, according to a press release.

ALMA’s debt financing, which is backed by DFC, will support the expansion of Trella’s platform for micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) truckers in Egypt and Pakistan. This step will enhance income for MSME truckers and cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in logistics.

Furthermore, the project will benefit from technical services provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Pakistan and Egypt.

Jim Polan, Vice President of the Office of Development Credit at DFC, said: “This transaction is an example of DFC’s work and operation in Pakistan, which DFC hopes to grow in the coming years.”

Gautam Ivatury, a managing partner at ALMA, commented: “As debt lenders, we want to extend more financing in lower-middle-income countries such as Pakistan and Egypt, and having the DFC guaranty facility allows us to reach more companies in these regions and have broader development impacts.”

Omar Hagrass, CEO of Trella, concluded: “Trella’s operations will benefit greatly from the additional debt financing extended by ALMA with the support of the DFC guaranty.”

Hagrass added: “In an industry like ours, we need new sources of capital to maintain our high-growth trajectory and reach the thousands of truckers across the region who need support to access more shipments, faster payments, and other integral services.”

Meanwhile, Reed Aeschliman, Mission Director of USAID in Pakistan, noted: "With the signing of this facility, we hope to expand economic opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and sustainably improve the environmental impact of logistics operations in Pakistan.”

Trella was founded in 2018 by Omar Hagrass, Ali El-Atrash, Pierre Saad, and Muhammad El-Garem. The platform is currently operating in Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.

In 2021, Trella entered into a framework agreement with ExxonMobil to endorse digital innovation in Egypt’s trucking industry.

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