Uber acquires Careem for $3.1B

CAIRO – 26 March 2019: Uber announced on Tuesday reaching an acquisition agreement with Careem for $3.1 billion, consisting of $1.7 billion in convertible notes and $1.4 billion in cash.

Uber added in an official statement that the transaction is expected to close in Q1 2020, clarifying that the acquisition of Careem is subject to applicable regulatory approvals.

Upon this agreement, Uber will acquire all of Careem’s mobility, delivery, and payments businesses across the greater Middle East region, ranging from Morocco to Pakistan, with major markets including Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

A step that will turn Careem into a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uber, preserving its brand, but it stated that both companies will operate their respective regional services and independent brands.

The statement noted that Careem co-founder and CEO Mudassir Sheikha will lead the Careem business, which will report to its own board made up of three representatives from Uber and two representatives from Careem.

It affirmed thatthis transaction supports the collective ability of Careem and Uber to improve the region’s transportation infrastructure at scale and offer diverse mobility, delivery and payment options. It will speed up the delivery of digital services to people in the region through the development of a consumer-facing super-app that offers services such as Careem’s digital payment platform (Careem Pay) and last-mile delivery (Careem NOW).

“This is an important moment for Uber as we continue to expand the strength of our platform around the world. With a proven ability to develop innovative local solutions, Careem has played a key role in shaping the future of urban mobility across the Middle East, becoming one of the most successful startups in the region. Working closely with Careem’s founders, I’m confident we will deliver exceptional outcomes for riders, drivers, and cities, in this fast-moving part of the world,” Uber CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi said.

For his part, Careem CEO and co-founder, Mudassir Sheikha said: “Joining forces with Uber will help us accelerate Careem’s purpose of simplifying and improving the lives of people, and building an awesome organisation that inspires. The mobility and broader internet opportunity in the region is massive and untapped, and has the potential to leapfrog our region into the digital future. We could not have found a better partner than Uber under Dara’s leadership to realise this opportunity. This is a milestone moment for us and the region, and will serve as a catalyst for the region’s technology ecosystem by increasing the availability of resources for budding entrepreneurs from local and global investors.”

The company announced that Jefferies LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to Careem on the transaction.

Established in 2010, Uber’s mission was to create opportunity through movement and to solve a simple problem: how do you get access to a ride at the touch of a button? while Careem was founded in 2012, it operates in 120 cities across 15 countries and has created more than one million economic opportunities in the region.