After almost 10 years of operations, ride-hailing app Careem is shutting down its services in Pakistan in July this year but has said that it will stick around in a “different role.”

Mudassir Sheikha, co-founder and CEO of Careem, took to LinkedIn to post about "a new chapter" for the company. 

“It is with a heavy heart that I share this update: Careem will suspend its ride-hailing service in Pakistan on July 18,” Sheikha said, adding that it was “an incredibly difficult decision.”

“The challenging macroeconomic reality, intensifying competition, and global capital allocation made it hard to justify the investment levels required to deliver a safe and dependable service in the country.

“In the end, the Careem Rides team had to make this tough call,” he wrote.

He referred to the ride suspension as “the end of an ironic chapter — one built with purpose, grit and a ton of relentless hustle”.

Sheikha pointed out several remarkable accomplishments of Careem while functioning in Pakistan, such as providing safe rides on demand, allowing women to travel with strangers, and promoting the use of smartphones and digital payments in daily life.

He praised his team for creating a service that millions of people in Pakistan depend on "to move and earn”.  

Sheikha mentioned that while ride-hailing is finishing, Careem's presence in Pakistan will persist in a new capacity.

"Careem Technologies (the spinout building the Everything App) will continue to build from Pakistan for the region."

Sheikha mentioned that around 400 Careem employees from various departments, including engineering, are working on developing the Everything App and its range of services (food and grocery delivery, payments, etc.).

Careem officially entered the Pakistani market in October 2015, providing a website, an app, and a helpline for customers to request rides. It currently operates in 12 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as in Turkiye and Pakistan.