Mulroney told Techopia he hopes to be a “sounding board” for Ottawa startup’s leadership team as firm continues its cross-Canada expansion push.
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An Ottawa-based on-demand delivery startup that has raised millions of dollars in venture capital has added some high-wattage star power as it looks to make a name for itself in the crowded logistics space.
Trexity announced this week that former television host Ben Mulroney is joining the firm’s advisory board. The son of former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney is best-known for his two-decade broadcasting career at CTV that included stints as host of entertainment news show etalk, Canadian Idol and the network’s morning news program, Your Morning.
The 46-year-old Montreal native left CTV in 2021 to pursue a career as a producer. He recently co-founded a fintech venture, Orchard Technologies, that aims to provide financial services for small and medium-sized businesses.
Mulroney told Techopia he hopes to be a “sounding board” for Ahuja’s leadership team as the fledgling startup continues its cross-Canada expansion push.
“People can be living in their bubble for so long that the assumptions that they operate under become fact,” Mulroney said. “Sometimes it’s important to bring in a fresh set of eyes and say, ‘Wait a second. We’ve got to test that assumption again.’”
Trexity co-founder and CEO Alok Ahuja first met Mulroney last October during the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s annual general meeting at the EY Centre. The pair started chatting about made-in-Canada alternatives to payment platforms like California-based Stripe and quickly bonded.
“The more I talked to him, the more I thought, ‘Wow, this guy is very interesting,’” Mulroney said. “Here I found myself making a great new friend.”
Over dinner at a restaurant in Little Italy the next evening, the seeds of a new business partnership were sown.
“We ended up talking for about five hours that night,” Ahuja said with a laugh. “At the age of 42, you don’t normally make new friends. We just totally hit it off. He loved the (Trexity) concept.”
Ahuja, a former Shopify executive, founded Trexity in 2019 with business partners Mathieu Bouchard and Darren Schnare. Buoyed by a surge in demand for its services during the pandemic, the company has since raised $6 million in seed capital and now provides on-demand package and food delivery in Ottawa-Gatineau, Calgary, Toronto and Winnipeg.
More than 1,000 merchants – including well-known Ottawa retailers such as Dominion City Brewing, Happy Goat Coffee and Kettleman’s Bagel Co. – use Trexity to provide same-day delivery to customers via a network of thousands of freelance drivers.
Ahuja said the company’s growth shifted into high gear last fall when it introduced a flat-rate delivery fee, which is included in the purchase price.
The firm’s proprietary platform taps into Google Maps, Mapbox and other services to provide real-time tracking of each order using GPS. The software automatically “bundles” deliveries in the same neighbourhood, helping drivers find the fastest, most efficient routes to their destinations and making flat-rate fees profitable, Ahuja explained.
“We found our product-market fit and we’ve just kind of amplified our merchant growth, which equates to more deliveries,” he said. “That trend has just continued into 2023. There are 98,000 small merchants in Ottawa. I want all of ’em.”
Mulroney said he quickly grasped Trexity’s potential to become a go-to platform for mainstreet merchants looking for a faster, more efficient way to get their goods to consumers’ doors.
“A lot of small businesses are so focused on keeping the lights on that customer experience falls down the depth chart,” he said. “A company like Trexity comes in and is able to help them get that back to the top of the list where it belongs.”
Edmonton, Halifax and Montreal are next up on Trexity’s expansion road map, followed by Vancouver later in 2023. Ahuja said he expects the firm to generate between $2.5 million and $4 million in revenues this year, adding his new buddy’s myriad of connections in the media, corporate and finance worlds will only help fuel its growth.
“The Rolodex of people that (Mulroney) and his family know is in a league that I don’t think I could ever get in front of,” he said.
Ahuja said the 24-employee company will lean on Mulroney’s media experience to open doors to new marketing and promotional opportunities. The former TV host will also lend his celebrity power to appearances at events like webinars and trade shows and has already proved to be a valuable source of potential new funding leads, Ahuja added.
“Ben has put us in front of some very interesting people that we’ll be talking about in the next couple of months,” he said.
Ahuja said Mulroney will also help drive sales in a more literal sense.
“Don’t be surprised if you see Ben Mulroney out in his car doing Trexity deliveries in the city of Toronto to some other famous celebrities,” he added. “We’re using him in a very interesting way there.”
For his part, Mulroney said he’s happy to pitch in wherever needed to help steer Trexity through its next phase of growth.
“I hope to be leveraged in any way that I can,” he said. “I don’t necessarily know what I can do until asked.”
The company has “assembled a great group of people who believe in this mission,” Mulroney added. “I never thought I’d have a great reason to ever visit Ottawa again, but I find myself now excited to come back.”
