Uber-owned ride hailing service Careem announced on Monday a spinout with major backing from a new source, as well as from its parent company.
Abu Dhabi-based tech holding company e&, formerly Etisalat, signed a binding agreement with Uber Technologies to acquire a 50.03% majority stake in the spinout — which will be known as Careem Technologies — with a $400 million investment.
Careem’s ride-hailing business remains fully owned by Uber, which acquired it for $3.1 billion in 2019. Uber’s stake in the spinout is currently undisclosed.
Careem Technologies will focus on the growth of the company’s “super app,” which offers dozens of services beyond ride hailing in one app. Some of those services include Careem Quik grocery delivery in 15 minutes or less, food delivery, PCR test booking, digital payments and remittances transfers, bicycle rentals, laundry and cleaning services and event ticket booking.
“e& is investing $400m to become a majority shareholder in Careem’s Super App alongside Uber and all three of Careem’s co-founders,” a statement from e& said. The investment will significantly accelerate Careem’s goal to create “the first ‘everything app’ for customers across the Middle East,” the firm wrote.
Dubai-based Careem “expects significant synergies with e& and anticipates benefiting from e&’s large customer base” as well as its experience scaling tech businesses across a geographic area that both companies share, it added.
Careem operates in over 80 cities and 10 countries, according to its website. Established in 2012 in Dubai by co-founder and CEO Mudassir Sheikha, the company grew from a Dubai-based ride sharing firm to a “Super App” platform, used across the Middle East from Morocco to Pakistan.
Source: CNBC
Image: Getty Images
