UAE-based e& acquires $400 million in Uber-owned Careem
Uber-owned ride-hailing firm Careem announced a spinout on Monday with significant support from both its parent business and a new source.
With a $400 million investment, the tech holding company e&, formerly Etisalat, based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, has entered into a legally binding deal with Uber Technologies to purchase a 50.03% majority ownership in the spinout company, which will be called as Careem Technologies.
Uber, which purchased Careem’s ride-hailing company for $3.1 billion in 2019, continues to be the sole owner of it. Uber’s current ownership percentage in the spinoff is unknown.
Careem Technologies will concentrate on the expansion of the business’s “super app,” which provides numerous services in addition to ride-hailing in a single app. Careem Quick grocery delivery in 15 minutes or less, is one of the services, including food delivery, PCR test booking, digital payments and remittance transfers, bicycle rentals, laundry and cleaning services, and event ticket booking.
The majority share in Careem Technologies and roughly $500 million investment from e&, along with continuous support from Uber, give Careem Technologies reason to be optimistic about the future expansion of its super app aspirations.
According to its website, Careem operates in more than 80 locations and 10 nations. The company, founded in 2012 by Mudassir Sheikha and Magnus Olsson, evolved from a ride-hailing service based in Dubai to a “Super App” platform that is used all throughout the Middle East, from Morocco to Pakistan.
The transaction is a component of a bigger e&’s expansion plan from a smaller global technology and investments business to what was originally a telecommunications corporation.
