French startup Trusk is like Uber, but for moving things. This isn’t a mover startup, and it isn’t a transporter. It’s something more flexible. And the company has had a weekly growth rate of 15 percent recently.
But first, let me start with a story. I’ve used UberXL multiple times to transport boxes of books and stuff, a mattress, a chair — and I’m probably forgetting a few rides. These weren’t long distance rides, just quick trips across the city. Every single time, the Uber driver has told me that people use UberXL for this reason quite a lot.
If Trusk existed back then, I could have used it instead of Uber. The company knows that many people and companies have the same needs. Chances are you and your company don’t need to have a full time truck driver around you to carry huge quantities of food or heavy stuff. But sometimes, you’re organizing a big party, you just bought a desk, or you need to move bikes around Paris.
In all these cases, you can call Trusk and set up a delivery. The startup works with professional transportation workers. They handle deliveries, and Trusk handles the rest. You can either get someone in the next hour or book in advance.
“80 percent of our clients are private individual, 20 percent are companies,” Trusk co-founder and CEO Thomas Effantin told me. “We have more and more professional clients. And over the next two months, 50 percent of our clients are going to be companies.”
Deliveries start at €25 and cost €75 on average. The company tells you upfront how much it’s going to cost. Interestingly, Trusk relies a lot on phone calls to set up deliveries. It’s a better way to figure out someone’s needs apparently.
The company is still small but it’s been growing nicely. With 45 deliveries per day now, the company takes a 20 percent cut. It recently raised $560,000 (€500,000) from Kima Ventures and Via-ID — it’s also part of TheFamily.
With this round, the company plans to expand to London very quickly. As the British market is much less regulated, it could be a good opportunity for the company.