Launched in 2019, Amitruck is a marketplace for trucking logistics that aims to offer transportation trust, accountability and productivity. The start-up platform, through its web or mobile application, links transporters directly with cargo owners, eliminating intermediaries.
Transporters bid on the platform for jobs, ensuring fair pricing, while cargo owners have easy access to a variety of competitive deals and can select a carrier based on price, ranking and experience.
The Amitruck mobile app for customers has been downloaded more than 10,000 times since it was launched, although the start-up has seen a 300 percent rise in sales over the past 12 months.
“We are happy to have among our customers a number of successful companies like Twiga Foods and Sky.Garden. On the supply side, Amitruck is now able to serve any kind of cargo need, having all types of vehicles available on the platform, from motorcycles to 28T trucks,” Mark Mwangi, Amitruck’s chief executive officer (CEO), told Disrupt Africa.
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Against the backdrop of the difficulties and inefficiencies he himself faced when hiring a truck in Kenya, Mwangi formed the start-up. He said that while about 80% of all goods are transported by road, the transportation ecosystem in Kenya remains highly fragmented and inefficient, leading to problems for both truckers and their customers.
“As a result for most fast moving consumer goods today in the country, up to 75 per cent of the end-price paid by consumers is to cover for logistics and warehousing costs. Until Amitruck, there was no single convenient place to get secure and reliable transport,” he said.
The Startup with operates on a commission-based model competes against all conventional brokers and other technology-based businesses entering the market.
“However, we see ourselves at the forefront of Kenya’s logistic sector, being the only company that offers a full end-to-end technical integration, with competitive bidding and instant partner payments,” said Mwangi.
Amitruck, which was initially self-funded, obtained investment and company building support from GreenTec Capital Partners in April and has also participated in a number of accelerators, most recently the Africa Transformative Mobility Accelerator. The startup currently operates only in Kenya, Mwangi said it plans to expand into East Africa and beyond.
