Women drive growth for Careem in Saudi Arabia

Women continue to drive ridership growth for the popular app-based taxi booking service Careem in Saudi Arabia, accounting for nearly 80 percent of its customer base in the kingdom, the company's managing director and co-founder Magnus Olsson told Argaam.

“Women don’t drive in Saudi Arabia, but they still need to move around. Particularly now that more women are starting to get into workplace," he said.

Olsson cited Saudi government estimates that say between 2 million and 3 million women in the country would work, given they had access to reasonable commuting options, which he says could offer businesses like Careem “enormous potential”.

The UAE-based company, which launched in 2012, expanded to Saudi Arabia and Qatar the following year. The service is currently available in 10 countries and 24 cities, which includes five cities within the kingdom.

The company was self-funded to begin with, but later held three investment rounds and received backing from some of Saudi Arabia's biggest industry players.

STC Ventures, a part of Saudi Telecom Company, participated in the Series A round.Tadawul-listed Al Tayyar Group later led the Series B stage and remains the largest institutional investor in Careem. In November, the firm secured $60 million in Series C funding with UAE-based Abraaj Group as the lead investor.

Yet, rapid expansion has also led the business to face a number of challenges, which Olsson says can differ between countries in the region. “We thought we were doing very well in Dubai and had learnt everything. Then we came to Saudi and realized we knew nothing.”

The company is also facing opposition from local taxi operators in Egypt, a market that remains important to the firm.

“We are very open to working with all parties in the market,” he says, adding that Careem does not own the cars but only provides the technology and the booking service.

For now, Olsson is focused on boosting capacity and growing the business further to the point where it would be sizable enough to go public.

“One day when Careem grows really big and we go public, everyone who has been part of this journey should be part of that success,” he says. “But will it happen in 2016: No. Will it happen in 2017? Maybe.”

Write to Nadeshda Zareen at nadeshda.zareen@argaamplus.com