Today, Malaysia-based logistics startup TheLorry announced their success in raising USD5.85 million (approximately RM24 million) in a Series B funding round led by FirstFloor Capital, with other participating funders including PNB-INSPiRE Ethical Fund I, Cradle Seed Ventures, and Axiata Digital Innovation Fund.
Since its inception in 2014, TheLorry has since become a platform that has connected thousands of individual and corporate clients to truck, lorry, and van owners across Southeast Asia, with their platform making it simple for just about anyone to acquire heavy-load or long-haul transportation services, ranging from house-moving to heavy-industry equipment.
Moving Everyone Up
With its newly-gotten funds, TheLorry will now make moves to strengthen its presence in the four markets in which it is currently in—Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia. Concurrently, it will also look to help lorry and truck drivers improve their perception within the public eye.
“There is a lot ofvalue in a lorry and truck-driving career that many people have yetto see and appreciate,” said co-founder and Executive DirectorNadhir Ashafiq. “We want to be the agent of change in uplifting thestatus and income of lorry and truck drivers in this region.”
Elaborating on thispoint, Nadhir revealed that his team have so far been able to help agood number within this profile improve their livelihoods as truckand lorry drivers.
“We’ve so many of these success stories across the region, such as where our platform helped an owner-operator grow from one lorry to four lorries within a matter of two years,” he explained. “Besides job generation, we would also like to add value to our partners by providing them with professional training and skills-training for them to grow their business in the long term.”
Coming a long waysince its Series A funding in 2016, TheLorry is now profitable andhas seen exponential growth following its expansions to Thailand andIndonesia last year.
“Ultimately, we’dlike to be the market leaders for logistics platforms in SoutheastAsia,” Nadhir said. “Our vision is to make logistics moreefficient and more affordable, and that includes both individual andcorporate use-cases, be it house-moving, goods distribution, or bulkye-commerce deliveries.”
Other co-founder andManaging Director Goh Chee Hau thinks that the ecosystem built byTheLorry will be able to bring down costs for consumers.
“With theoptimisation done through our technology, we’re reducingunderutilised capacity, and in turn improving the efficiency of ourdrivers,” he said. “We are already seeing the results ofcost-savings being delivered to our customers.”
Planning Ahead
Looking ahead,Nadhir shared that his team would look to build upon their currentsuccess by increasing their standing as a top logistics providerwithin the SEA region.
“We still have along way to go to improve in terms of brand awareness in the region,”he said. “A lot more effort needs to be done in terms of scalingand becoming the number one choice for individuals and corporates tomove bulky items.”
“We have to lookat an integrated approach in marketing for all the countries weoperate in.”
Finally, he sharedplans for TheLorry in 2019.
“Our focus for2019 and beyond would be to further enhance our product line with theidea of making logistics more efficient and more affordable,” hesaid. “That includes shipping new products and improving andupgrading our existing products.”
“Currently, we’d like to focus on the four markets we’re present in, but we are also looking at other SEA markets in the long term.”
You can find out more about TheLorry on their website or Facebook page.
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Feature Image Credit: TheLorry