Careem, Didi Chuxing Announce Partnership to Accelerate Innovation in MENA Region

Press release

Published August 8th, 2017 - 06:57 GMT

Careem's founder, Mudassir Sheikha.

Careem, the leading ride-hailing and internet platform in the Middle East and North Africa, today announced a strategic partnership with Didi Chuxing, the world’s largest mobile transportation platform. As part of the partnership, Didi made an investment in Careem to strengthen its leading market position and further enhance its reliable transportation offerings across the region. Together, the two parties will share knowledge in intelligent transportation technology, product development, and operations.

“Didi Chuxing brings leading edge AI capabilities, insight and expertise to our organization as we enter our next phase of growth” said Mudassir Sheikha, CEO and co-founder, Careem. “This evolution in our long relationship will enable Careem to more effectively pursue growth opportunities through continued innovation and sustainability. DiDi’s investment is yet another endorsement of the significant regional opportunity to leap-frog traditional infrastructure and improve the lives of people in our communities.”

Powered by big data-driven AI technologies, DiDi offers Taxi, Private Car, and other mobility options to over 400 million users in 400 cities with a daily ride volume surpassing 20 million. DiDi looks to build an open and sustainable global mobility ecosystem to advance transportation innovations. The company’s global framework of collaboration now extends to over 60% of the world’s population across 1,000 cities in North America, Southeast Asia, South Asia and South America. DiDi’s partnership with Careem marks the company’s first collaboration in the Middle East and North Africa and further aids DiDi’s mission to transform transportation at a global scale.

“Growing urban populations and economic and social diversity in the MENA region present enormous opportunities for the ride-hailing economy. “Said Cheng Wei, founder and CEO of Didi Chuxing. “Careem is the region’s technology and market leader. Through technology exchange and co-development, we look to support continued growth and transformation of the region’s transportation industry, tap into the significant potential of the local internet economy and foster more innovative services for a broader network of communities around the world.”

Founded in Dubai in July 2012, Careem provides reliable, safe and affordable transportation to its more than 12 million customers. Careem supports a wide range of languages, including English, Arabic, French, Urdu and Turkish, and offers a variety of mobility services. There are currently over 250,000 drivers on its platform in more than 80 cities across 13 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine.

Background Information

CAREEM

Careem is the technology platform for our region. A region of over 600 million people that extends from Morocco to Pakistan, Turkey to Sudan. It’s an area of the world that up until now, has largely missed out on the transformational power of the internet revolution – but through its ambition and focus is catching up fast. Half of the population are under 25, and the same amount are connected to the internet yet only a small proportion have bank accounts, access to public transport and critical infrastructure.