Big news! Careem is setting aside $150 million for launching a food delivery service in Pakistan. This was revealed by two different sources privy to the matter, saying that we could see CareemFood as early as September this year.
This wasn’t unexpected, as the ride-hailing service had acquired RoundMenu back in February. RoundMenu is an online restaurant listing platform from the Middle East, available in multiple Arab countries including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan etc.
According to one of the sources, Careem is planning to raise $150 million for CareemFood, in an ongoing fundraising round.
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Reuters had previously reported in March that Careem is looking to raise $500 million.
The sources also said that CareemFood will be initially launched in Pakistan in September, then launching UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Gulf countries.
Competition
The most obvious competition would be from foodpanda in Pakistan, with UberEats, Talabat, Deliveroo, and Zomato in the other countries.
The investors’ identities were not revealed by the sources. What we do know is that Careem’s investors include German automaker Daimler, Saudi Prince and Billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding 4280.SE, and China’s Didi Chuxing ride-hailing service which pushed out Uber last year.
High Demand
Food delivery is in strong demand in the Middle East, especially as the temperatures go well above 50 degrees Celsius in summers. Careem currently has 24 million users in the region and competes with Uber in several Gulf countries.
well above 50C … ooo kon log ooo tusi yaar hahahah
you better be reading before commenting. Its mentioned in Middle eastern countries.Kon log o tussi???? parh tu lia karo
Careem jitni city mien operate karti hey sb ka weather search kar lo jaani, they hardly reach 50C … well above 50 ahhaha do one thing google “highest temprature ever recorded” and tumhy pata chal jaye ga ye kon log hein hahaha
Careem needs to do one thing right first and make its Pakistan operations profitable. It is going down the Grab/Go model in Far East but this isn’t trivial to do. First it needs to consolidate and focus on fixing its ride hailing business in Middle East and Pakistan.