How many of us have had to make numerous calls, and negotiate with a number of providers to move just a single crate of goods from one place to another? The lack of a structured and reliable logistics service for goods transport is a problem all too common in the UAE, and given its ambitions to leverage technology in mobility, the burden falls on new-age upstarts to simplify goods transport systems. One such enterprise is Yalla Pickup, a platform that helps you order pickup trucks to move good consignments, and in July, the company managed to secure AED1 million in funding from The Box, a provider of self-storage and goods transport services in the UAE. This is the first funding round for the startup, which was one of the 10 graduating startups in the Sheraa (Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center) accelerator program’s inaugural batch.
“I felt that the days of large trucks painting their contact numbers [on the trucks] are a thing of the past, and Yalla Pickup could fill the gap by connecting these service providers with people who need them,” says Elie El Tom, founder and CEO, Yalla Pickup. Catering to both individual and business customers, Yalla Pickup’s smartphone app or website helps users book the nearest truck suitable to transport large-sized valuable goods from the comfort of their office or home. Moreover, the tech platform also provides users the ability to track, follow up, and stay updated till the last mile of delivery.
With such services on offer, the startup believes that the funding comes in recognition of the significant traction the solution has gained since its launch in 2016- Yalla Pickup says it has over 50 business and over 300 individual customers with adoption growing by 200% month-on-month since January 2017. El Tom adds that the funds would help Yalla Pickup “recruit staff for onboarding more vendors, [and] cater to the high demand of our clients and exceed their expectations.” Based on feedback received from some early clients, the team also wants to invest in the technology, and “release a second version of the app and web portal.”
What also makes Yalla Pickup’s growth interesting is the crowded market in which they operate. The GCC is a ripe market for logistics tech…