Careem Raises Half a Billion Dollars, Valuing It Over $1 billion
Dubai based ride hailing company, Careem has announced that it has raised $500 million closing its Series E round. This round values the company at over $1 billion, with investors including German carmaker Daimler and Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Holding Company.
Careem CEO Mudassir Sheikha told Reuters that Careem is looking to expand beyond the 12 mainly Middle East countries where it currently operates, while strengthening its position in Kuwait and Turkey.
The company has around 10 million registered users growing at a rate of 20 percent a month.
The news of the latest funding comes just hours after Careem’s main competitor Uber announced that its CEO Travis Kalanick would be taking a leave of absence.
Careem was founded in 2012 by former McKinskey consultants including Stanford education Pakistani computer scientist Mudassir Sheikha, Saudi Abdullah Elyas, and Swedish Karl Magnus Olsson. Its investors include Arzan Venture Capital, Al Tayyar, STC Ventures, BECO Capital, Impulse (a subsidiary of Kuwait Investment Authority), Lumia Capital, Wamda Capital and Abraaj Group.
