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| Uber in talks with Careem about foreign investment |
Reuters reported that Uber is negotiating with the management of its subsidiary Careem in the Middle East to attract outside investors to participate in the company.
After the planned investment, Karim's ownership structure was not immediately clear. However, sources said that Uber remains a shareholder, while the Careem management has more power over its strategy.
Two sources said the investment will help fund the subsequent rollout of the Super Careem app, which provides services outside of its core passenger transportation business such as food delivery, digital payments and express services.
The list of users of the application includes about 33 million users and 1.7 million drivers from 13 countries and more than 100 cities.
One of the sources said that Careem's management is keen to rely on more advanced apps - its co-founder and CEO Mudassir Sheikha (Mudassir Sheikha) is a long-time supporter - and Uber is focused on taxi services.
Uber buys Careem for $3.1 billion
More than two years ago, Uber acquired its Dubai-based competitor, which operates mainly in the Middle East, for $3.1 billion, while maintaining its brand and apps.
Former McKinsey CEO Mudassir Sheikha co-founded Careem in 2012. After being acquired by Uber in 2019, he remained as CEO.
It is still not clear how high the investment requirements will be. However, a source said that Careem is focused on growing payments and delivering new funds. One of the sources also said that the new company owned by Careem could be listed and traded on the stock exchange.
Uber's acquisition of Careem in 2019 gave the American company a dominant position in the Middle East and Pakistan. That was before the IPO in the same year that raised $8.1 billion from investors. The company was valued at $82.4 billion.
Grab, Southeast Asia's largest passenger-sharing company, has announced an initial public offering after merging with private acquisition firm SPAC for $40 billion.
Karim intends to increase his investments in the Egyptian market during the next year. She said: Our strategic goal in 2022 is to offer diverse and competitive pricing plans to our customers and increase the profits of our drivers while continuing to provide the best service and the highest standards of safety to drivers and customers.