An international magazine reported on Thursday, citing two people with knowledge of the situation, that the trucking startup Trella will be terminating its operations in Pakistan.
Bloomberg also noted that the Egyptian multinational company had stopped taking orders as in the previous month.
In 2021, A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S’s venture arm was among the several investors that contributed to the company’s $42 million funding round.
According to the sources cited in the paper, the recent macroeconomic turbulence rendered Trella’s business model there untenable.
Trella is expanding its business internationally
Trella, which plans to launch in Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia in 2020, will keep some employees in Pakistan to help with the launch.
In recent months, Pakistan has been hit with a slew of problems, including a downgrade and a perception of default risk from foreign ratings agencies due to the health of the economy, which has also had to weather significant political upheaval and frequent changes in senior leadership.
Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers flooded nearly a third of the country last year, forcing some 8 million people to relocate and killing at least 1,700; the disaster was largely attributed to climate change.
The financial crisis that global internet startups have been experiencing has also hit Pakistan’s young businesses. VavaCars, financed by Vitol, left the Pakistani market last year, while Swvl Holdings of Dubai stopped offering daily trips, Careem by Uber stopped delivering food, and Airlift, which had secured a record $85 million, shut down.
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