Super App Careem Is Stepping Into Payments

Super App Careem Is Stepping Into Payments

In June last year, Careem became one of the earliest super apps to debut in the Middle East. Just months into the pandemic, CEO and Co-founder of the company Mudassir Sheikha announced the launch on Twitter.

“Excited to launch the first version of the Careem Super App. It’s live in Dubai and a few other cities…”

the tweet said.

The Super App brings us closer to @careem’s purpose of simplifying the lives of people in our region so that they can spend more time on things that really matter and on realizing their full potential. 2/3

— Mudassir Sheikha (@MudassirSheikha) June 4, 2020

Super apps have been wildly successful in Asia (with China in the lead), but not so much outside of it.

For instance, as this CNBC report points out, the mix of factors that led to the initial spurt of growth for super apps in China is unique to the country, and difficult to replicate elsewhere.

These include a blanket ban on Western social media and Google, relatively lax regulation on data and personal privacy protection at the time, and a more controlled market that may not have as much competition as freer ones.

And so, this space is yet to see successes such as China’s