UAE tech giant Careem is acquiring the assets of money transfer platform Denarii, as it expands to the remittance industry in ongoing bid to become a “super app.”
The remittance startup integrates fintechs and financial institutions with remittance aggregators, banks, exchanges, and wallets globally.
The acquisition means Careem’s payments solution, Careem Pay, will use Denarii’s proprietary technology to connect its own customers with remittance services. Some Denarii employees will join Careem following the deal.
“Denarii’s innovative API will accelerate our journey to offering simple and affordable international remittance services, adding to the wide variety of services already available through Careem Pay,” Mudassir Sheikha, chief executive officer of Careem, said in a statement.
The Dubai-based tech company, which already offers a wide variety of services on its platform, is taking advantage of the GCC’s strong remittance industry – being home to some of the world’s biggest communities of foreign workers.
“Remittances to the developing countries of the Middle East and North Africa region grew by 7.6 percent in 2021 to $61 billion while remittances to South Asia grew 6.9 percent to $157 billion in the same year,” it noted in a release.
The move follows its earlier acquisition of food subscription platform Munch:On. The Careem platform now has more than a dozen services, including ride-hailing, food and grocery delivery, home cleaning, and PCR testing.
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