Startup secures $190 million funding

Desires to enhance footprint in Pakistan through innovative products

KARACHI:

Covid-19 has proved to be a blessing in disguise for small businesses specialising in tech-based solutions as they have been able to secure substantial funding on the back of soaring demand for their products.

In a statement on Monday, KeepTruckin, a US-based fleet management startup, announced that it had raised $190 million in new funding from multiple investors. “The round valued the startup at over $2 billion,” it said.

The new capital will support strategic priorities of the company as it plans to increase its footprint in Pakistan by introducing more innovative AI-powered products, recruiting top-tier talent and scaling rapidly to meet needs of businesses that power the physical economy.

KeepTruckin’s Founder and CEO Shoaib Makani highlighted that over 90,000 firms and 1 million drivers depended on the company’s technology to improve the safety and efficiency of their operations.

He added that clients of the company had grown their fleet by 21% over the past one year and the recent funding would help the enterprise grow by investing in talent and technology to better serve its customers. “We know that an inflection point is coming in this industry,” Zach Barasz, Partner at G2 Venture Partners, which extended funding to the company. “The startup has highest-quality products to lead the field.”

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The opportunities for the firm “are endless”, he said.

The company has a network of 400,000 connected vehicles in North America and it equips customers with innovative hardware and software that leverages the latest advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision to solve a broad range of problems for businesses.

The company specialises in video-based driver safety, GPS tracking, ELD compliance, vehicle maintenance and fuel spend management.

Key factors contributing to the company’s steep growth include its rapid expansion into new market segments such as construction, oil and gas, food and beverages, field services, moving and storage, and agriculture.

The pandemic-accelerated digital transformation within these industries has accelerated demand for the company’s products. The US witnessed 50% year-over-year growth in the amount of truck registrations in March 2021 on the back of unprecedented expansion in e-commerce and shift in consumer spending.

Heavy-duty truck orders surged during the same period to a record 50,000 in March 2021.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2021.

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