What is Careem? Careem Review, Features

Careem is an online car booking service provider in Dubai. It uses mobile Internet technology to develop a new type of online intelligent taxi-hailing system, mainly providing taxi, private car, express and other taxi-hailing services to users in the Middle East and North Africa, solving people's travel problems.

About Careem

Careem was founded in 2012 and supports multiple languages ​​including English, Arabic, French, Urdu and Turkish, providing users with a wide range of travel options. Its business covers more than 80 cities in 15 countries including Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine, with more than 250,000 drivers and more than 12 million users.

Founding Background

Careem was founded in 2012. One of its founders and CEO, Mudassir Sheikha, is a Pakistani academic master with a master's degree in computer science from Stanford University. After graduation, he started a business in the United States and joined McKinsey's Dubai office after the company was acquired. Another co-founder is Magnus Olsson, Sheikha's McKinsey colleague and also an academic master. He originally worked in Stockholm and met his "Arab princess" while working on a project in Africa, and then moved to the Middle East.

In 2011, the two decided to start a business together. The Internet in the Middle East was still in its early stages, and there were too many pain points. They made a list of opportunities, including medical care, education, logistics, etc., and finally they chose transportation.

At the beginning, Careem had no application, just a simple booking website and calendar, and first faced enterprises, providing commuting services for employees. In 2012, it started a shared taxi service, and in 2013, it launched an iOS application.

Careem and Uber

In March 2019, Uber and Careem reached an acquisition agreement, and Uber will acquire Careem for US$3.1 billion.

Uber intends to keep Careem operating as an independent brand. Careem co-founder and CEO Mudassir Sheikha will continue to run the wholly owned subsidiary, which will report to its own board of directors, which will consist of three representatives from Uber and two from Careem.

Data breach incidents

On April 23, 2018, Careem disclosed to the media that the company had suffered a cyberattack and data leakage. The data stolen by the hacker included the user's name, email address, mobile phone number, and travel data. All users who registered with Careem before January 14, 2018 were affected. There is no indication that the hacker obtained the user's password and credit card number. The data leakage incident involved 558,000 drivers and 14 million passengers.

Financing

-In September 2013, Careem received its first round of financing of US$1.7 million from STC Ventures, a fund under Saudi Telecom.

-In October 2018, Careem completed its Series E financing of US$200 million from investors including STV, KHC, Rakuten, and Al Tayyar.

-In March 2019, Careem was acquired by Uber for $3.1 billion. Uber's acquisition of Careem will help the latter better enter cities such as Dubai and Karachi, Pakistan. According to the terms of the agreement, Uber needs to pay $1.4 billion in cash and $1.7 billion in convertible bonds.