MENA region: Careem declares $100m investment in R&D

Market to benefit from engineering, technological solutions


Shahram Haq July 12, 2016
Iqbal said that the money earmarked for R&D currently will be from their existing pool, which is $60 million. PHOTO: CAREEM

LAHORE: Careem, the app-based car booking service, is expanding its footprint in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, announcing an investment of $100 million in research and development for Pakistan and UAE.

The car service intends to open its R&D centres in Egypt and Germany, but one element of the expansion is choosing Pakistan to expand its engineering team. The additional engineers will join Careem team in Pakistan from VentureDive.

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“We have recently acquired a team from VentureDive, a Pakistani technology solutions company, which was previously building technology systems for Careem, as a third party,” said Junaid Iqbal, Managing Director at Careem Pakistan.

“Previously, technology was outsourced, but now we are intending to invest in R&D.”

Since its start, the company has managed to raise around $72 million in three series of funding. Its latest round saw it raise $60 million with Abraaj Group being the leading investor.

Uber Technologies, a global taxi dispatch service app, with a strong presence in US has recently announced to invest $250 million as its expansion plan for MENA and Pakistan region as well.

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The announcements of fresh wave of investments in the region are backed by a surge in technological innovations and a rapidly growing start-up ecosystem.

It is expected that the competition between both app services will lead to lower price and better quality of service.

Iqbal said that the money earmarked for R&D currently will be from their existing pool, which is $60 million.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13th, 2016.

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