The ride-hailing giant Careem is now in the delivery business as the company seeks new verticals in its ever-increasing fight against other services in the Middle East including Uber. Starting with food delivery in Dhabi and Jeddah, the company sees the delivery service expanding to pharmaceuticals according to a report by Reuters. Careem is investing over $150m into the service.
“We believe the opportunity for deliveries in the region is even bigger than ride-hailing,” Chief Executive and Co-Founder Mudassir Sheikha told Reuters. “It is going to become a very significant part of Careem over time.”
Called Careem Now, the service will operate independently from its ride-hailing business. It will have its own app and Careem is building the service a dedicated call center.
This comes as the company is trying to close a $500m funding round. Back in October, the company announced it had already raised $200m from existing investors. Prior to this announcement, rumors were swirling around the company that several companies including Didi Chuxing could acquire the company.
Written by Matt Burns
This news first appeared on https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/17/careem-launches-delivery-service-as-it-nears-closing-a-massive-round/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29 under the title “Careem launches delivery service as it nears closing a massive round”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
