- June 19, 2023
EPISODE #
#55 Mudassir Sheikha on scaling and reinventing Careem
About this episode
Careem is the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan’s (MENAP) biggest tech startup success story to date. The Dubai born ride hailing company was sold to Uber in 2020 for $3.1Bn. The largest tech exit in the region, by far.
Mudassir Sheikha and his Co-founders Magnus Olsson and Abdulla Elyas continue to reinvent Careem and find ways to inject an entrepreneurial spirit back into the business as they seek to build a global business from the region, akin to Google and Amazon.
After the ride hailing success, Careem has recently announced a new entity ‘Careem Technologies’ that will focus on building the region’s super app and provide a wide range of services to meet the needs of MENAP’s 500 million+ population. Careem Technologies still has Uber as a shareholder, as well as the 3 co-founders and fresh funding of $400Mn led by E& (formerly Etisalat).
In this episode Mudassir and I discuss the learnings from the various stages of Careem as well as what the future holds. A glimpse into the mind of one of the region’s top entrepreneurs.
This episode is brought to you by She’s Next by Visa. A program designed to provide female entrepreneurs with mentorship and support as well as financial rewards! Apply to join the program by June 23rd 2023. Click on the relevant link depending on where you are based:
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KSA: https://l8.nu/qgZA
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guest profile
Mudassir Sheikha
Mudassir Sheikha is the CEO and Co-Founder of Careem.
He started his career with Trilogy Software before joining San Francisco-based mobile experience startup Brience at the height of the dot-com bubble in March 2000. Mudassir then joined the founding team of mobile testing and monitoring startup, DeviceAnywhere, where among other things, he led its offshore development center in Pakistan. DeviceAnywhere was acquired by Keynote Systems, and Mudassir joined management consulting firm McKinsey & Company in Dubai.
In 2012, he left to build something big and meaningful with ex-McKinsey colleague Magnus Olsson. Their mission was to simplify and improve the lives of people in the Middle East region and build an awesome organisation that inspires. They founded Careem in 2012 and today, it is the leading technology platform for the region, operating in more than 100 cities in 14 countries, with 3000+ colleagues and more than one million Captains (drivers).
Mudassir graduated from the University of Southern California with dual degrees in Economics and Computer Science, and obtained his Masters in Computer Science with a specialization in Databases from Stanford University.
When he’s not working, Mudassir is learning how to scale growing organizations and hanging out with his four young daughters.