Business & Money | Saturday 21 January, 2017 2:46 am |

Careem, the region’s leading ride-hailing service, on top of its recent launch in Al Wakrah in Qatar, is continuing its expansion program, which has now reached more than 50 cities across the broaded MENASA (Middle East, North Africa and South Asia) region, including Turkey and three new cities in Pakistan.

Mudassir Sheikha, co-founder and CEO of Careem, said, “Our main focus is to broaden and deepen our presence across the wider region, which comes on the back of Careem’s phenomenal growth in the past four years. Testament to our continued expansion and ambitions for further growth is the recent USD 350 million tranche of investment in our company, making Careem one of the few tech unicorns in the Middle East and North Africa. Now operational in more than 50 cities within four years since launching, Careem will harness this milestone achievement as a springboard to further growth in 2017.”

Careem already operates in capital Islamabad and in Pakistan’s two most populous cities - Karachi and Lahore and will now include Peshawar, Faisalabad and Hyderabad where Careem will launch the Economy car type in Hyderabad and Peshawar, and Business in Faisalabad.

“Pakistan is an important strategic market for Careem and one in which our convenient, affordable transportation options have a significant impact on people’s lives. As well as heralding a new era of mobility for customers, our entry into these dynamic cities will stimulate new opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship, empowering local residents to be financially independent,” Sheikha added.

Careem users in Peshawar, Hyderabad and Faisalabad will have access to complete information on their Captains who drive them around the destination, along with access to a 24x7, dedicated call center manned by a multi-lingual team of 200 employees.

Last month, Careem announced a landmark funding round of USD 500 million in the company with USD 350 million already secured from new and existing investors. Co-led is by Rakuten, Inc., a global leader in internet services and innovation headquartered in Japan, and Saudi Telecom Company (“STC”), the largest telecom operator in the Middle East, the fundraise, supported by Credit Suisse, is one of the largest for a technology company in the Middle East’s history. The investment will scale up Careem’s transport services in existing and new markets, accelerate innovation across its platform of high-frequency transactions, and help Careem achieve its goal of creating one million jobs in the region by 2018.