Dubai is among the fastest growing markets for ride-hailing service Uber’s food delivery division, the company told Arabian Business.
In a conversation around Uber Eats’ global fortunes, the division’s GCC general manager, Damien Drap, said Uber Eats was doubling the size of its business “every six months in Dubai.”
According to Uber’s Q3 2018 results announced last week, the food delivery service has grown by 150% from the corresponding three month period ending September 2017.
“Those are just the global stats,” said Drap. “In Dubai we’ve grown 400% in 12 months.”
Profitable in more than 40 cities, Uber Eats currently operates in more than 400 cities worldwide, up from 200 two years ago when it first began operations in Dubai.
Uber Eats’ Q3 results are in contrast to its parent company’s own fortunes which saw losses over the year tick up to $1 billion.
However, in an earnings statement last week Uber CFO Nelson Chai said that the Middle East and India are among the company’s most important markets to focus on and where it will look to strengthen its push.
That push could see even further growth at Uber Eats in the region, a sentiment Drap echoed when discussing growth plans which have seen the company begin operating in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.
“We’re not focused on profitability [right now] because we’re focused on growth and investments… We will invest heavily in the Middle East in 2019,” he said.
“Next year, you will see a few more countries in the Middle East and North Africa, certainly and us going deeper in the countries we already serve. So Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the rest of the UAE, are what we are looking adding coverage to as well,” he added.
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