Careem’s 2023 numbers: From a $20,420 food order to 1.1m burgers

Multi-service app Careem released its customer trends data from 2023, including some of its more peculiar highlights of the year.

Established in 2012, the app provides over 20 digital services in the UAE and operates in over 70 cities across 10 countries, from Morocco to Pakistan.

READ MORE: Dubai: School Rides service by Careem, RTA sees rising demand

From ordering food to laundry services and even electric bicycles, Careem, in many respects, is becoming similar to the ‘Super App’ WeChat in China — even going as far as offering remittance services.

And in its highlights reel for 2023, Careem revealed some of its most interesting numbers.

• The largest spend on Careem DineOut was $20,420 at MyGovindas in the UAE. (Careem further says the the customer apparently saved $2,994 on Diwali gift boxes as a result, though.)
• 1.1 million burgers were delivered to customers in 2023.
• One customer in Saudi Arabia ordered 1,400+ meals (almost 4 orders a day), spending a total of $28,500 on Careem Food in 2023.
• The fastest Quik Groceries order was delivered in 1 minute.
• One customer sent a total of $68,000 from the UAE to Pakistan using Careem Pay’s seamless international remittance service. The fastest remittance transfer was just 16 seconds, from the UAE to India.
• More than 70 million ride-hailing trips were completed across the region which translates to more than 800 million kilometers travelled.
• For the second year running, one of the strangest items left behind by riders was a bridal dress.
• In the first month following the launch of Careem Bike in Madinah, Saudi Arabia, nearly 2,000 customers traveled almost 60,000 kilometers across the city on bicycles.

Careem targets becoming ‘everything app’

Share-riding giant Uber acquired Careem in 2020. Last year, e& by etisalat also invested $400m to acquire 50.03% of Careem Technologies (the  Careem Everything App). However, Careem’s rideshare business remains fully owned by Uber.

In a statement by e& by etisalat in April last year, the telecoms network said: “With this new investment, Careem plans to accelerate the realisation of its ambitious vision to create the first ‘everything app’ serving customers across the Middle East. This will include expanding its core food, grocery, and FinTech services and the Careem Plus subscription programme across the region while adding even more partner services to the app.”