Emirates Telecommunications Group Company (etisalat by e&) announced that it has agreed to acquire 50.03% of Careem Super App developed by Uber Technologies and its subsidiary Careem for $400 million
With this investment, e& will become a majority shareholder in Careem’s super app, alongside Uber and all three of Careem’s co-founders – Mudassir Sheikha, Magnus Olsson, and Abdulla Elyas.
To enable this investment, Careem will evolve into two organizational units: Careem Rides and Careem Technologies.
Careem Rides will operate the foundational ride-hailing service and will continue to be fully owned by Uber. Uber bought Careem for $3.1bn in 2019. About 260 colleagues who directly or indirectly support Careem Rides today will serve in Careem Rides under the continued leadership of Ashish Labroo, who will start reporting into Uber’s Rides leadership. This structure will enable colleagues in Careem Rides to collaborate more closely with Uber on core product experiences, which coupled with Careem Ride’s strong operational footprint and Super App synergies will create an unrivalled rides offering to power the rest of our Super App.
Careem Technologies will operate the Super App along with all other verticals and enablers. It will be owned jointly by e&, Uber, the three co-founders (who are investing alongside e&), and the colleagues. About 1,400 colleagues will be invited to join the Careem Technologies, which Mudassir Sheikha, CEO and Co-Founder of Careem, will lead as CEO.
The Careem Super App is a market leader with a strong brand and operations in over 80 cities, covering 9 countries across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia regions. It operates a digitally native platform with a range of integrated consumer centric digital services such as Food, Groceries, Pay, Bike, Delivery, and additional third-party services.
According to the telecoms operator in a regulatory disclosure on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) on Monday, the investment will accelerate the development of the company and creation of a regional Super App champion.
“This transaction is in line with e&’s strategic ambition of scaling up consumer digital offerings and accelerating e&’s transformation to a global technology group.”
“It would also provide e& with access to multiple digital verticals, to strong talent and capabilities, and to new geographies. e& will leverage the Careem Super App to boost the growth of its consumer digital services, including expediting the expansion of e& money across a wider footprint.”
