Friday March 29th, 2024
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Careem Receives US $60 Million In Funding For Planned MENA Expansion

Ride-sharing taxi service app, Careem has just received millions in funding to accelerate its expansion throughout the region.

Staff Writer

Careem, the MENA region’s locally-founded taxi service app, has raised 60 million USD in funding, to be used in accelerating their expansion across more countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. Careem, which was founded in Dubai and launched in 2012, has successfully been able to hold the title as Uber’s rival, the American-based taxi service app. It has also been able to operate in 20 countries, from Morocco to Pakistan, all within the course of three years. The investment, which was made by The Abraaj Group, a leading investor in growth markets, would mark Careem’s third funding since launching as Al Tayyar and STC Ventures were their firsts.

Hadeer Shalaby, Careem Cairo's General Manger, tells us that “Cairo is the fastest growing city in Careem and we are growing faster than we could imagine; this funding will help us accelerate the growth and give our customers an even better product, more available cars, and even higher quality.” Given this newly obtained funding, Careem has announced that it will be expanding its operations beyond Cairo and into Alexandria. To celebrate this, they're offering a free first ride to new customers.  

According to the company’s earlier press release, Mudassir Sheikha, Careem’s Co-Founder and Managing Director, commented on the investment, saying, “as we successfully close our third round of funding, we welcome our new investors and partners into Careem. The Abraaj Group brings unique regional insights, proven execution capability, and global resources we consider critical to realising our mission of simplifying the lives of people in the region. We will continue to innovate our product, expand through the region, bring greater income generating opportunities to even more of our Captains, and recruit outstanding talent to serve a growing customer base across our cities.” 

Mustafa Abdel-Wadood, Partner at The Abraaj Group, added, “the transport industry is witnessing a positive disruptive revolution from the use of technology. The headroom for growth in the ride-share and taxi-app industry continues to be substantial globally – and with our markets being no exception. We strongly believe that the combination of Careem and its management team with Abraaj’s track record of supporting regional champions will drive scale, efficiency, and produce significant public policy benefits. We intend to equip this business fully to rise to the challenge – and take leadership of this segment.”