Japan's internet giant Rakuten has nailed another taxi app investment, taking part in a $350 million funding round for Dubai-based Careem
Careem, which operates across the Middle East and North Africa, said that the $350 million is part of a still-to-be-completed $500 million round.
The other main participant in the round is the investment arm of Saudi Arabia Telecom, which also led Careem's $1.7 million seed funding in 2013.
The announcement names others in the latest round - Abraaj Group, Al Tayyar Group, Beco Capital, El Sewedy Investments, Endure Capital, Lumia Capital, SQM Frontier and Wamda Capital.
According to Careem's Crunchbase entry it has now received more than $740 million in financing.
Rakuten's head of ride-sharing and fintech investments, Oskar Mielczarek de la Miel, is joining the Careem board.
Earlier this year Rakuten was reportedly behind a $120 million funding round for Madrid-based Cabify. And in 2015 Rakuten announced that it had put $300 million into Lyft, getting an 11.9% stake in return.
Careem has a presence in 47 cities across 11 countries and has 150,000 drivers on its books and has handled six million customers across the region to date.
Related reading from Tnooz:
Honda invests in Grab (Dec16)
Softbank admits wrinkles in its investment in taxi-hailing app Ola (Nov16)
Apple pumps $1 billion into China’s Didi (May16)