Careem raises $500M at more than a billion dollar valuation

Ride-hailing service Careem has closed the series E round by raising another $150 million. This latest investment makes the whole series round to be $500M in total making the valuation of the company more than $1B, TechCrunch reports.

This latest investment is led by a Saudi-based VC firm. The firm has also invested in Lyft, Twitter, and Snap (SnapChat’s parent company).

Before series E round Careem had only raised $72M in total but with the hefty investment in the latest round, the number has become $572M. The startup is aiming to become the world’s leader in mobility services. Careem is a popular riding hailing choice in MENA region. The startup is currently operating in more than 80 cities. The latest addition to its service area was Palestine, where it entered just a couple of days ago. The service has also launched in Pakistan and is available in major big cities of the country.

According to the numbers shared by Careem, it has more than 250,000 drivers and 10 million people have signed up for the service. The revenue growth has been 20 to 25% month on month.

Uber, Careem’s biggest rival has been in hot waters owing to the constant stream of negative PR related to sexism and toxic workplace culture. Uber’s CEO has also gone on a leave of absence owing to this. Careem, on the other hand, has been working on diversity by introducing different initiatives to encourage women drivers.