Uber Technologies Inc, the app-based taxi service part-owned by Qatar, is to invest $250 million in expansion plans in the Middle East and North Africa, a senior executive has said.
The region has some of the ride-sharing service’s fastest-growing markets and Uber plans to begin service in new cities in Saudi Arabia and Egypt and enter Pakistan, beginning in Lahore, Bloomberg reported.
It quoted Jambu Palaniappan, the company’s regional general manager for the Middle East, Africa and Central and Eastern Europe, as saying that the investment will go toward hiring drivers, expanding staff and enhancing Uber’s mobile application.
Uber entered the region two years ago and operates in nine countries – Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Turkey and the UAE.
Bloomberg said the Egyptian capital of Cairo has become Uber’s fastest-growing city in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, less than a year after the company began service in the country.
It added that the company plans to roll out UberPool in the region soon, allowing several riders to share a car to the same destination.
Recently, the US-based company began a pilot project allowing cash payments in Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, responding to user requests for more options beyond credit cards.
In Saudi Arabia, where women aren’t allowed to drive, women make up more than 70 percent of passengers, Palaniappan told Bloomberg.
In September, it was reported that Uber is considering a range of new services, including the possibility of introducing a helicopter and luxury yacht service in the Middle East.
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