Careem will suspend its ride-hailing service operations in Pakistan from July after nearly a decade in the industry, its CEO announced on Wednesday, adding that its journey in the country would continue \u201cin a different role\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mudassir Sheikha, Careem\u2019s CEO and co-founder, shared a post on LinkedIn announcing \u201ca new chapter\u201d for the company.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is with a heavy heart that I share this update: Careem will suspend its ride-hailing service in Pakistan on July 18,\u201d Sheikha said, adding that it was \u201can incredibly difficult decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenging macroeconomic reality, intensifying competition, and global capital allocation made it hard to justify the investment levels required to deliver a safe and dependable service in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the end, the Careem Rides team had to make this tough call,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He called the ride suspension \u201cthe end of an iconic chapter \u2014 one built with purpose, grit and a ton of relentless hustle\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sheikha highlighted some of Careem\u2019s notable achievements while operating in Pakistan, including safe rides on demand, women travelling with strangers, and smartphones and digital payments for everyday use.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenges were real and formidable. But our Pakistan team was brilliant and fearless \u2014 bold, determined, and literally on a mission to create millions of jobs for captains across the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He lauded his team for building a service that millions of Pakistanis relied on \u201cto move and earn\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey delivered significant public goods: digital infrastructure, trust, regulation, capability, confidence \u2014 all of which paved the way for countless local and global digital ventures to take root in Pakistan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheikha added that \u201cwhile ride-hailing is sunsetting, Careem\u2019s journey in Pakistan continues in a different role.<\/p>\n
\u201cCareem Technologies (the spinout building the Everything App) will continue to build from Pakistan for the region.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheikha said that nearly 400 Careem employees from across all functions, including engineering, are building the Everything App and its ecosystem of verticals (food\/grocery delivery, payments, and more).<\/p>\n
\u201cThis presence is only set to grow, with over 100 open roles and the expansion of our Falcon\/NextGen programme that brings in top graduates from Pakistani universities and gives them hands-on training on building highly scalable systems,\u201d Sheikha elaborated.<\/p>\n
\u201cPakistan is in Careem\u2019s DNA \u2014 our first line of code was written here, and the country remains a rich source of innovation and talent for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The company said Careem Care will be available till September 18 to help users with any pending issues or questions, according to an update sent to a Dawn.com staffer who uses the app.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have remaining balance in your Careem Wallet, we\u2019ll be in touch soon with clear instructions on how to reclaim it,\u201d the update said.<\/p>\n
In April 2024, Uber made the decision to cease operating its ride-hailing app in Pakistan, saying: \u201cOur subsidiary brand Careem will continue to operate, with the Careem app offering ride-hailing services across Pakistan and earning opportunities for drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Careem officially entered the Pakistani market in October 2015, offering an app, a website and a helpline where customers could order rides. It operates in 12 countries across the Middle East and North Africa, Turkiye and Pakistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Careem will suspend its ride-hailing service operations in Pakistan from July after nearly a decade in the industry, its CEO announced on Wednesday, adding that its journey in the country would continue \u201cin a different role\u201d. Mudassir Sheikha, Careem\u2019s CEO and co-founder, shared a post on LinkedIn announcing \u201ca new chapter\u201d for the company. \u201cIt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10120,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10118\/revisions\/10120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}