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Although Arjun Mohan decided to build his own startup in Silicon Valley, life had other plans for him. After growing up in the UAE, he looked after his father’s business and started helping Arjun’s father manage the business when he fell ill.
He noted that the company was already leasing construction equipment to other contractors. While this was not a major undertaking, Arjun realized that the vertical could be developed as a separate online technology platform.
That got him started. in 2018. is an online marketplace and software development company that helps companies rent and track heavy machinery like bulldozers, trucks, cranes, etc. Today, Tenderd has created an AI-powered analytics platform for efficient and sustainable fleet operations.
It helps companies to increase the use of their capital equipment and vehicles, reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions. It is currently being used by the largest organizations in the construction, e-commerce, logistics and energy sectors worldwide.
Headquartered in Dubai, the Y Combinator-backed startup allows construction companies to rent machinery such as air compressors, dump trucks, bulldozers, cranes and more. It also developed its own TenderdTrack to convert heavy equipment into “smart” machines. It helps companies track their entire fleet of heavy machinery.
Bid must be available in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. In the year In 2019, the startup raised undisclosed funding from investors including Y Combinator, Peter Thiel, Paul Graham, Beco Capital and others.
Getting started
Arjun moved to Canada from the United Arab Emirates to study at the University of Toronto. After pursuing an MSc in Management from the Richard Ivey School of Business, Western Ontario, he decided to start up in Silicon Valley and in 2017, founded Eureka King to help publishers with online marketing.
However, that same year, his father fell ill and Arjun had to return to the United States. That’s when he took a closer look at his father’s company and realized that while equipment provided value to the business, no technology or data was being used.
“When I started helping in my father’s company, I noticed that many of these construction companies were managing their capital equipment like it was a hundred years ago. That’s when I thought there was an opportunity to bring what I experienced, observed and learned in Silicon Valley to the space,” says Arjun Mohan, founder and CEO of the auction.
Although he planned a different career, even his mother did not want him to enter the construction business, life came full circle when he founded Arjun Tenders.
Bidder.
The online marketplace and its challenges
Another reason Arjun felt the need for an online marketplace was that many construction companies were renting heavy equipment instead of buying it. This required monitoring the entire fleet to make informed decisions, especially since the machines were gas generators and required optimal utilization.
“Construction is a trillion dollar market in the UAE and the capital equipment rental market is a huge area that needs to be cleared and explored,” says Arjun.
However, reforming a sector such as construction was not an easy task because it was difficult to explain the importance of integrating technology to old industry veterans.
“Industry veterans thought of our work as a joke; we were seen as a young and inexperienced group to tell industry leaders how to run their businesses. In fact, I was thrown out of the offices of major construction companies because they simply didn’t trust us,” he recalls.
That company is now one of the auction’s customers.
Today, in addition to the construction business, the auction is in cooperation with companies such as Saudi Aramco, Colas, Amazon, Larsen and Toubro, in the leasing of equipment for other industries such as logistics, oil refining and others.
TenderdTrack helps track heavy machinery (Source: Instagram)
Construction tender
In the early days, Tenderd focused on renting out idle properties, but the team also worked on building technology.
“I built the first website with basic coding and at that time we were supported by Y Combinator to further fine-tune the technology and software,” says Arjun.
The 42-member team manages two products under Tenderd: the online marketplace and the TenderdTrack software.
The marketplace allows customers to select machinery from a catalog, add it to the cart, specify the location and scope of the project, and submit it to the bidding team.
TenderdTrack, a proprietary application launched in January 2021, operates on a SaaS (software-as-a-service) model. Customers can use the software after paying an undisclosed annual subscription fee. Within the platform are various applications for GPS tracking, fuel monitoring and efficiency, regular performance reports, real-time communication management with technicians and more. Customers can pick and choose these apps as per their needs.
The company charges an undisclosed fee for the software.
“What sets us apart from us is that we can track companies’ real-time carbon emissions on their properties, as many people are very focused on sustainability,” Arjun explained.
Market and future
The competition includes companies like Sanaa App and BuildSouq for the old model and it will compete against Samsara and Trimble for the new model.
As the pandemic subsides and economic activity resumes, Mordor Intelligence predicts that the United Arab Emirates will lead the competition in the heavy equipment rental market. The GCC construction equipment/machinery rental market was valued at USD 4.07 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 5.81 billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 6.15%.
The group is now looking to expand deeper into the market as well as expand into different geographies in the GCC.
Disclaimer: This copy has been updated to reflect an actual error in the founder’s original business plans and to add some information about the competition.