UAE’s e& to invest $400m for majority stake in Careem’s Super App

Emirates Telecommunications Group Company (etisalat by e&) announced on Monday its decision to buy a $400 million stake in the Super App developed by Uber Technologies and its subsidiary Careem.

With this move, e& will become a majority shareholder in Careem’s Super App alongside Uber and all three of Careem’s co-founders, a statement issued by the ride-hailing company said.

Super apps offer customers a range of services from food delivery to financial services on one platform.

Careem’s Super App includes a dozen services including food and grocery delivery, remittances and third-party services such as laundry.

Careem, which is currently available in 10 countries, said it will use the new funds to expand its services across the region.

The company said it expects significant synergies with e& and anticipates benefiting from e&’s large customer base and extensive experience scaling complex tech enabled businesses across a largely shared geographic footprint.

“With this new investment, Careem plans to accelerate the realisation of its ambitious vision to create the first ‘everything app’ serving customers across the Middle East. This will include expanding its core food, grocery, and fintech services and the Careem Plus subscription programme across the region while adding even more partner services to the app.”

Khalifa Al Shamsi, CEO of e& life, said his company’s current strengths, primarily in fintech and multimedia, coupled with Careem’s services and regional footprint, will accelerate “our joint vision towards a regional super app”.

“With this partnership between e&, Careem and Uber we will set new standards of product innovation and customer experience throughout the region.”