Reports say Trella, a trucking services startup backed by global shipping giant Maersk, has decided to wind down its operations in Pakistan.
The move comes as Pakistan experiences one of its acutest economic crises and is facing multiple downgrades by rating agencies because of delay in revival of the stalled IMF loan programme, says a report in Bloomberg.
Egypt-based Trella stopped taking new orders last month, Bloomberg quoted people privy to the decision as saying.
The company entered Pakistan in 2020 and raised $42 million in 2021 from investors, including the venture arm of A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, one of the world’s largest shipping companies.
However, it has now decided to exit Pakistan due to the ongoing macroeconomic turmoil, which has made its business in the South Asian country unsustainable.
According to Bloomberg, Trella will retain some staff in Pakistan to assist operations in Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Trella’s exit from Pakistan follows a number of other global companies such as VavaCars, Swvl Holdings, Careem and Airlift. These companies exited the market or paused their operations due to a funding crunch and squeeze in valuations of startups in the country’s startup economy.
