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Careem

Tech

Careem Overview

So-called ‘super app’ Careem has its roots in a corporate car booking website developed in 2012 by its co-founders Mudassir Sheikha, Magnus Olsoon.

Abdulla Ellyas joined as co-founder in 2015 after Careem acquired Saudi delivery service Enwani.

Careem operates in more than 70 cities across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

After its ridesharing and taxi-based business expanded into food and takeaway delivery with Careem Food in 2018, Uber bought the company for $3.1 billion in January 2020.

Digital payment platform Careem Pay was then launched in April 2022 and the ‘super app’ business was spun out a year later, with UAE telecoms firm e& buying a 50 per cent majority stake reportedly valued at $400 million. Uber retained ownership of the ridesharing business.

In Dubai Careem’s ‘super’ or ‘Everything’, app provides services including taxis, food deliveries, eating-out discounts, bike and car rentals and payment services.

Since 2012, Careem has raised more than $770 million over seven funding rounds, with participation by almost 30 institutional investors.

Careem News

Dubai luxury transport taxi

E-hailing boosts Dubai’s luxury transport sector

Trips in Dubai’s upmarket transport sector, mainly limousines, rose by nearly half last year, driven by increasing app usage, the state-run Wam news agency reported, citing the emirate’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). The number of trips reached more than 43 million last year, up from 30 million in 2023, driven by so-called e-hailing, or […]

A Dubai taxi on Sheikh Zayed Road. Estonian ride-hailing company Bolt will initially offer limousine services in partnership with DTC

Bolt’s UAE arrival rattles the ride-hailing market

The arrival of global ride-hailing platform Bolt in the UAE will shake up a market long dominated by Careem and Uber, the CEO of Dubai Taxi Company (DTC) said. Estonian company Bolt, which operates in more than 600 cities and is present in Saudi Arabia, launched in Dubai this month in partnership with DTC, initially […]

Drone deliveries have their place but they may not yet be cost effective Video length: 03:19

Drone deliveries all about speed, not profit, says Careem

Drone deliveries across the Middle East are expected to grow significantly over the next decade. However, the commercial viability is up for debate, says a Careem executive. Mohamad Charafeddine, Careem’s vice president of product for data and AI, says that drone deliveries have their value in speed, such as for essential medical products. But the […]

A Talabat delivery driver in Doha, Qatar

Talabat focusing on core markets ahead of listing, says CFO

Food delivery app Talabat aims to prioritise organic growth over geographical expansion, its chief financial officer says, as it prepares to launch one of the region’s largest listings. Delivery Hero, the German parent company of the UAE-headquartered app, announced on Monday that it plans to sell a 15 percent stake in Talabat.  The initial public […]

Talabat couriers in Abu Dhabi. The company operates in eight countries across the Mena region

Talabat profits soar ahead of planned IPO

Food delivery company Talabat reported a 46 percent increase in third-quarter profits ahead of its planned IPO.  Delivery Hero, the Berlin-headquartered parent company of the business, said net income reached $98 million in the three months, up from $67 million the previous year. It said the increased profit was due to improved logistics efficiency, continued […]

Bolt, based in Tallinn, has experienced rapid growth; the deal will allow DTC to integrate Bolt's ride-hailing tech into its fleet Bolt Dubai Taxi Company

Dubai Taxi partners with Bolt to take on Uber

Dubai Taxi Company has signed a deal with the Estonian company Bolt to launch its “e-hailing” platform in the emirate, competing with existing operators such as Uber and Careem. The launch of the platform was announced during a signing ceremony between DTC and Bolt at Gitex Global. Mansoor Rahma Alfalasi, CEO of Dubai Taxi, called […]

e&'s AI-integrated robot interacts with people at the Mobile World Congress Barcelona 2024. The company's shares have rallied from a four-year low in May

Worst is over for Etisalat shares but don’t expect a rebound

Shares in UAE blue-chip e& – more commonly known as Etisalat – have fallen by more than half from a 2022 peak as investors fret over difficulties related to some of the telecom operator’s foreign investments. Yet analysts believe these issues are now priced in and so the worst should be over for the stock. Etisalat […]

Gone are the days when telcos could rely on merely a phone network to turn a profit

Telcos turning to tech to propel growth

Fear of market irrelevance has spurred former Gulf telecom operators such as e& to bet on providing more sophisticated, tech-based services to consumers and businesses. This strategy differs from earlier efforts to create a vast geographic footprint for their operations, which, in many cases, led Gulf telcos to nurse billion-dollar losses. E&, which is listed […]

The purchase of Careem by Uber is the most high-profile startup exit in the UAE, but the number of startups successfully exiting in the emirates is increasing

Rise in startup exits a sign of UAE’s ‘market maturity’

Startup exits – when a new company sells its ownership or stock, for profit or at a loss – are rising sharply in the Gulf, which observers say is proof of a maturing ecosystem. Across the Middle East and North Africa, 43 startup exits were recorded in 2023, up from 15 in 2015, according to […]