Exclusive Interview with Arham Pratap Jain, Founder & CTO, Trucknetic

Trucknetic is a trucking technology platform that aims to connect shippers with owner-operators and small fleets. It offers an end-to-end logistics solution that combines a freight marketplace with company drivers and partnerships to provide services for drayage, over-the-road, and transloading. Analytics Insight has engaged in an exclusive interview with Arham Pratap Jain, Founder & CTO, Trucknetic.

1. Kindly brief us about the company, its specialization, and the services that your company offers.

Trucknetic is a trucking technology platform that aims to connect shippers with owner-operators and small fleets. It offers an end-to-end logistics solution that combines a freight marketplace with company drivers and partnerships to provide services for drayage, over-the-road, and transloading.

The company provides a digital platform and mobile solution for the freight shipping industry. We connect shippers with a trusted network of carriers, streamlining the process of placing, tracking, and paying for shipments.

The truck etc platform empowers our customers by unifying communications, providing end-to-end visibility, and ensuring compliance.

It is India's first online transport and logistics company, which solves the need for laborious phone calls and emails encountered by shippers and carriers daily. Our mission is to bring greater visibility and connectivity to the logistics industry to reduce waste.

2. With what mission and objectives, the company was set up? In short, tell us about your journey since the inception of the company?

Trucknetic aims to bring transparency and visibility to the shipping and logistics sector, modernize the operations across the supply chain and contribute to the government's Ease of Doing Business in India. Founded in 2019, Trucknetic is a technology platform that connects shippers with carriers and establishes a marketplace that is a central portal for both front loads and backloads by using machine learning, automation, and other software services. Putting more stars in its sky, Trucknetic has proven its mettle in a highly competitive industry. Just within 2.5 years of its journey, Trucknetic has been acknowledged and appreciated globally.

With years of expertise in the MSME sector and a highly experienced founding team from the logistics sector, Trucknetic has the right force to successfully ace the logistics market.

Trucknetic has a network of close to 200,000 fleet owners and 50,000 transporters which roughly translates to over 1 million trucks in our network. It has done a revenue of USD 3 million since December 2019. The company has more than 50000+ downloads on the Trucknetic Carrier application and 15000+ downloads on the Trucknetic Shipper application and has moved close to 100,000 metric tonnes of goods.

Trucknetic aims to become the largest Trucking company in India without owning a single truck by 2025. The platform is highly diversified across commodities, truck types, and lanes.

3. Tell us how your company is contributing to the IoT/AI/Big Data Analytics/Robotics/Self-Driving Vehicles/Cloud Computing industry of the nation and how the company is benefiting the clients.

Trucknetic uses artificial intelligence (AI)/ ML for demand forecasting which helps it seamlessly solve the problem of return load in real-time which ultimately helps to bring the cost of logistics in India down which is currently 14 – 18 percent of GDP as an expense as compared to 8 -10 percent globally. It new age technology plays an important role in India's booming e-commerce sector, which is still at an early stage and has a long runway of development. Trucknetic also helps to reduce the wastage of miles without freight and increase the revenue of fleet owners per day/per truck and on the other hand, reduce the cost for the shipper and ultimately align itself and move toward the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that is Net-zero by 2070.

Trucknetic is one of the chosen startups in the Microsoft AI innovation – manufacturing and logistics cohort, in which Microsoft is helping the platform to build a proof of concept for solving the return load problem and demand forecasting using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. It also enhances operating robustness through a scalable, modular technology platform, which will help augment user experience and assist in building a large trader community.

Trucknetic has a host of prestigious brands as its clients including such as Patanjali, Action Tesa, Nuvoco, Gulshan Chemicals, etc. and has received numerous awards and opportunities for its hard work and passionate vision, including the 10 most trusted logistics & supply chain brands 2021, top placer logistics 2021, best shippers, and carriers marketplace platform (APAC).

4. How is IoT/Big Data/AI/Robotics evolving today in the industry as a whole? What are the most important trends that you see emerging across the globe?

It is no secret that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has deeply seeded itself into our society. From finishing our sentences through automated suggestions to drone-delivered packages  — Artificial Intelligence has demonstrated its extreme innovative potential for helping to maximize efficiency in many different areas of our lives. The emergence of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and blockchain has also transformed the chaotic and fragmented logistics industry.

The most significant advancements this technology has brought include autonomous vehicles, automated warehouses, predictive analytics, and smart roads. The technology offers to automate and simplify numerous processes, thus helping companies save both time and money. The new-age technologies play a crucial role in saving time, reducing costs, and increasing productivity and accuracy with cognitive automation. It helps in automating various time-consuming processes and helps in demand forecasting. It also helps in logistics route optimization, which helps in reducing the costs of shipping, and further aids in generating more profits.

5. How is your company helping customers deliver relevant business outcomes through the adoption of the company's technology innovations?

The company provides a digital platform and mobile solution for the freight shipping industry. We connect shippers with a trusted network of carriers, streamlining the process of placing, tracking, and paying for shipments. Our platform empowers our customers by unifying communications, providing end-to-end visibility, and ensuring compliance.

Trucknetic is India's first online transport and logistics company, which solves the need for laborious phone calls and emails encountered by shippers and carriers daily, our mission is to bring greater visibility and connectivity to the logistics industry to reduce waste.

6. Where do you see growth coming in for the logistics sector?

In India, the demand for today and the future is integrated end-to-end Logistics solutions. This would encompass an integrated infrastructure/assets platform, integrated services platform, and integrated digital platform. There is a wide spectrum of players in the domain ranging from the very small exporters and importers, to medium-sized and large traders to MNCs. Hence, the sector would continue to witness consolidation, process standardization, technological up-gradation, and digital transformations for more agility, and integration not only between modes of transportation but also the users and third-party service providers. Efficient, cost-effective customized solutions are what customers are looking for.

Today the growing demand for online deliveries and the availability of goods by people has led the industry to grow at a CAGR of 10.5 percent. The new age of technology has revolutionized the Logistics sector by being a key differentiator. Digital transformation of the Logistics sector could translate into a value of USD 1.5 trillion for the participants and an additional USD 2.4 trillion worth of societal benefits by 2025.