Careem acquires a chunk of VentureDive in a hefty deal

Taxi-hailing cab service, Careem, has acquired a one-third chunk of VentureDive’s development team for an undisclosed amount that includes cash and equity, both. The acquired team will be joining the Careem team in Pakistan.

Earlier today we reported that Careem is taking its R&D strategy up a notch. In step with that, they will be investing $100 million dollars in the next five years to open new R&D centres in Egypt and Germany. Part of those efforts is to keep their team growing strong and this acquisition of a VentureDive engineering team is a reflection of that. Our earlier story mentioned Careem hiring this team which is factually incorrect. It is a proper acquisition.

VentureDive is a technology solutions studio that creates and invests in technology products that directly impact people. Careem is acquiring around 50 engineers from VentureDive in an acquisition deal. However, Saad Fazil, Managing Director of VentureDive, has kept mum on the exact amount of the acquisition. Having said that, not a lot of companies with a foreign footprint tend to make acquisitions out of Pakistan.

The acquired team has helped build Careem’s technology stack from scratch which now rivals that of Uber. They will continue their work at Careem by advancing the user experience, quality, and performance of the Careem app. The acquired teams are expected to maintain an affiliation with VentureDive.

Speaking on the acquisition, Atif Azim, CEO VentureDive said:

“We are thrilled to see that a technology team we incubated is being acquired by Careem. This helps validate our mission of creating products of global prominence out of Pakistan, and takes us a step closer to our vision of creating a technology organisation and an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region.”

VentureDive has also told TechJuice that they will continue to invest in areas they find interesting and that could potentially help accelerate their growth.