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 Careem, a Middle East private car booking service has announced that it has acquired Taxiii, a Morocco based car booking service. The move comes on the heels of Careem's acquisition of Enwani, and is part of their strategy to strengthen their position as a ground transportation provider in the Middle East. Taxiii’s founder, Yassir El Ismaili El Idrissi will join Careem and will lead the development and expansion of the company across Morocco.

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Uber, the San Francisco based mobile-app-based transportation, and Careem’s main competition, has been deploying fast across the region. The service which initially launched in 2009 is currently available in 8 Arab cities: Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Cairo, Dammam, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Riyadh. Missing from that list is any North Africa Arab capital. Prior to the acquisition, Careem was already present in all of the above mentioned cities, in addition to Dharan, Kuwait and Manama. The company also operates in non Arab countries, including Karachi and Lahore.

Taxiii is developed by Mobilitech, a Moroccan start up dedicated to mobile technologies, as the country’s first car & taxi booking app. It has been downloaded by over 6000 people, counts over 2200 users and enlists the services of 100 drivers. The company initially started its operations in Rabat and quickly expanded into Casablanca in September 2014. It covers a population of 5 million people, where smartphone equipment is estimated to be 60%. Now the new service, which will be dubbed Careem Morocco, will be the largest aggregator of privately booked cars in the country.

Careem was started by Magnus Olsson and Mudassir Sheikha, both former consultants at McKinsey & Company, in July 2012. Careem is the Uber of the Middle East. I does bear some differences however that cater to local customs. Users order cars either on demand or for a set time in the future through a mobile app. Fares are settled via a registered credit card, but Careem also allows users to pay cash. Since inception, the service has been experiencing stellar growth, growing more than 30% month on month, and has reached a headcount of more than 70 after only two and a half years of operations.

“We have had our sights on Morocco for sometime,” explains Selim Turki head of new products at Careem. “And what better way to enter the market than to bring the most successful local player on board with us.”

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