Amitruck raises pre-seed funding for expansion in East Africa

• Amitruck has had an exciting 12 months with its revenues growing by over 300 percent despite the Covid-19 crisis.
• Dynamo Ventures’ founders successfully exited Access America Transportation to UPS following its merger with Coyote Logistics.

February 16, 2021: Kenyan trucking logistics marketplace Amitruck announced an undisclosed investment led by US-based Dynamo Ventures with participation from Plug and Play Ventures and a collection of strategic angel investors. Funds will be used to expand its growing client base in East Africa.

Launched in 2019 in Kenya, Amitruck is a trucking logistics marketplace connecting truckers with shippers using its web and mobile application, side stepping middlemen and brokers.

Amitruck has had an exciting 12 months with its revenues growing by over 300 percent despite the Covid-19 crisis. After completing the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa late last year, Amitruck has since attracted investment from US based investors Dynamo Ventures and Plug and Play Ventures. Several angel investors from Amitruck’s advisory board with a background in supply chain and logistics have also participated in the deal.

Dynamo Ventures is a sector-focused investor, targeting supply chain and mobility startups internationally. Dynamo Ventures is noted for its early investment in Sennder, Europe’s largest digital freight brokerage that recently acquired Uber Freight’s European operations and raised $160 million with a valuation in excess of $1 billion. Dynamo Ventures was founded in 2016, after the fund’s founders successfully exited Access America Transportation to UPS following its merger with Coyote Logistics.

“We are excited to be investing in Amitruck given the momentum it has achieved over the last 12 months particularly in light of the challenges associated with Covid-19. We see many similarities between Amitruck and Sennder which we invested in at a very similar stage of their lifecycle,” said Barry Large from Dynamo Ventures who previously was a board director at Sennder “and believe Amitruck has the potential to become equally as successful”.

Plug and Play Ventures is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in emerging growth companies. This is the venture arm of Plug and Play, an innovation platform, bringing together startups and the world’s largest corporations.

"We are extremely excited to invest in Amitruck. We have been in contact with Mark for the last 10 months and we are not only impressed by his incredible growth, but also by his story and ambitions,” said Alberto Anton, analyst for Plug and Play Ventures. “Amitruck brings efficiency and transparency to the supply chain and we are convinced that Mark and his team will be able to lead the logistics market in Kenya and East Africa."

“I look forward to working with Dynamo Ventures and Plug and Play Ventures who alongside their investment bring a huge amount of experience building and scaling companies and access within the logistics sector,” said Mark Mwangi, the founder and CEO of Amitruck.