Saudi’s Kingdom Holding to invest Careem proceeds in Europe

Following the landmark acquisition of Careem by Uber for $3.1 billion, the largest amount any Middle Eastern startup has received to date, one of Careem’s initial investors, Kingdom Holding, sold its take in the unicorn for $333 million. It is set to receive SAR 565 million ($150 million) in cash and SAR 685 million ($182.68 million) in convertible bonds in Uber.

Kingdom Holding then announced that it will be reinvesting the proceeds from Careem towards $600 million investment in companies from Saudi Arabia and Europe. In a phone interview, Talal Ibrahim al-Maiman, CEO of Kingdom Holding said, "We have five companies on the table that are being discussed, deliberated. Hopefully we will be able to come to a conclusion on where to invest within the next eight weeks."

He added, "We will not deploy all the cash in one go, but this is the first tranche. It's a combination of debt and equity." The investments will be 70 percent in income-generating dividend-distributing, and 30 percent in technology and companies with potential growth. Read more about the announcement from Kingdom Holding regarding its investment here.