Emirates Telecommunications Group Company (e&) is acquiring a 50.3% stake in a spinout business of Uber's Middle Eastern subsidiary Careem for $400 million.
Careem’s ride-hailing business will be separated from the Careem Super App and will remain 100%-owned by Uber but still available on the Super App, e& said.
A new organizational unit, Careem Technologies, will operate the Super App. Careem founders Mudassir Sheikha and Magnus Olsson will continue to manage the Super App.
“This investment will turbo-charge our Super App vision and restart our entrepreneurial journey to build the preeminent technology platform of our region,” Sheikha said in a letter to Careem colleagues on Monday. “In Uber and e&, we now have two exceptional partners to help us get there.”
Per &e, the Careem Super App operates in over 80 cities covering nine countries across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. It offers consumers a range of digital services, including food, groceries, pay, bike, delivery and other third-party services.
The company said that the transaction was in line with its strategic ambition of scaling up its consumer digital offerings and accelerating its transformation to a global technology group.
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