UAE Chauffeur Car App Careem Acquires Moroccon Start-Up Taxiii

UAE-based Careem Networks, which offers app and web-based chauffeur-driven car booking services, announced that it has acquired Taxii, a Moroccan taxi and car booking app.

The value of the deal was not disclosed.

Taxiii started a taxi and car booking app in June 2014 in Rabat and expanded to Casablanca in September.

The new service, called Careem Morocco, will be the largest aggregator of privately booked cars in the country, a statement said. It will be begin services on March 26 in Rabat and Casablanca and soon expand to Marrakech.

Selim Turki, head of new products at Careem said: “We have had our sights on Morocco for sometime and what better way to enter the market than to bring the most successful local player on board with us.

“Ground transportation in the city is heavily relied on for the everyday person to get around. Careem users will be able to order cars on demand or for a set time in the future, all at the touch of a button. And customers can choose to settle their fares via a registered credit card should they wish, with the option to pay cash still supported.”

Careem, founded in Dubai in 2012, currently operates in 14 cities across the UAE, Bahrain, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait and Pakistan.

The company is now looking to expand further across the region.

In December last year, Careem announced that it had raised investment worth around $10 million in a round led by Saudi’s Al Tayyar Travel Group, STC Ventures and other regional investors.

The company said that it will use the cash infusion to expand its business to new markets and to develop its technology and operations platform.

The start-up also received $1.7 million in funding from STC Ventures in September 2013, to help its expansion into Saudi Arabia. In January this year, Careem acquired enwani, a Saudi based address coding service.

The company currently has 70 employees, and is growing more than 30 per cent month-on-month.