Careem, the United Arab Emirates-based ride hailing platform has raised $200m from existing investors including travel agency Al Tayyar and e-commerce firm Rakuten, Reuters reported today.
STV, the venture capital fund anchored by telecommunications firm Saudi Telecom, and investment holding company Kingdom Holding were also among the participants.
The round valued the company, whose investors also include Chinese counterpart Didi Chuxing and automotive manufacturer Daimler, at about $2bn, a source close to the deal told Reuters.
Careem’s on-demand ride service spreads across 120 cities in the Middle East, North Africa Turkey and Pakistan, and has accumulated 30 million registered users. It has earmarked some $150m to expand its food delivery business, according to Reuters.
News of the funding follows reports in May this year that the company was seeking $500m at a valuation of up to $2.5bn. US-based Uber was also reportedly in talks with Careem over an acquisition for between $2bn and $2.5bn as of last month.
The latest round increased Careem’s overall equity funding to more than $770m, $500m of which came in a series E round featuring Rakuten, Daimler, Saudi Telecom, Al Tayyar, Abraaj Group, DCM Ventures, Coatue Management, Beco Capital, El Sewedy Investments, Endure Capital, Lumia Capital, SQM Frontier and Wamda Capital.
The series E closed in July 2017 and followed a $60m round in 2015 that included Al Tayyar Saudi Telecom subsidiary STC Ventures, Abraaj, Beco Capital, Lumia Capital, Wamda Capital and Impulse, a subsidiary of sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority.
STC Ventures initially led a $1.7m round for Careem in 2013 before returning for a $10m series B led by Al Tayyar the following year.
