Both Uber and Careem declined to issue a comment to Business Insider regarding the Bloomberg report. However,"We've only addressed 1 to 2% of our addressable market," the founder said by phone from Dubai."We're still very early in the opportunity.
"We are continuing to fundraise," he continued."We have enough cash on hand to fund our business plan, but our ambition keeps on getting bigger so we are getting into more things than initially anticipated." Sheikha also said that it would be hard for a global competitor like Uber to successfully compete in such a unique market, like the Middle East. In that view, at least, the purchase could make sense for Uber.
"For a global competitor to come in and start providing a service to the top 2-3 percent of the population is not difficult — they're used to the convenience," said Sheikha."But as soon as you start going down the masses, you require a lot of tailoring"