Careem stands out as the winner of the Transformidy Great Experience Award for May 2025 due to its groundbreaking CX product innovation—a super app that consolidates multiple daily services into one user-friendly platform. This innovation has redefined convenience and customer engagement in a highly competitive and diverse market.
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What Is Careem?
Careem, founded in 2012 by Mudassir Sheikha and Magnus Olsson, began as a website-based service for corporate car bookings in the Middle East and quickly evolved into the region’s leading ride-hailing company. With Abdulla Elyas joining as a co-founder in 2014, Careem expanded its services beyond transportation to become the first true “super app” in the Middle East, integrating ride-hailing, food delivery, digital payments (Careem Pay), grocery delivery, and more into a single seamless platform.
The super app design is powered by advanced technologies such as AI, machine learning, and microservices architecture. This modular approach allows Careem to scale individual services independently, deploy updates rapidly, and maintain high reliability. AI-driven features include dynamic pricing, demand forecasting, personalized recommendations, and real-time GPS tracking, optimizing both customer experience and driver efficiency. Careem Pay enhances the platform with secure digital wallets and fintech services, enabling users to pay for rides, food, bills, and peer-to-peer transfers all within the app.
Careem’s super app deemed the “Everything App” is designed to offer a unified and consistent experience across diverse services, making it feel like one cohesive ecosystem despite the complexity of different customer journeys involved in ride-hailing, food delivery, and financial transactions. This human-centered design approach ensures ease of use and customer satisfaction across its 100+ cities in 14 countries in the region, serving over 50 million users and creating more than one million jobs in the region.
The company’s growth trajectory includes key acquisitions such as RoundMenu (a food ordering platform) and strategic expansions into new markets, demonstrating its commitment to localization and addressing regional needs like cash payments and language support. The company’s acquisition by Uber in 2020 for $3.1 billion USD further accelerated its growth and technological capabilities, positioning it as a dominant player in the MENA ride-hailing and super app space.
Why Careem Won?
Careem won the Transformidy Great Experience Award for May 2025 because it has successfully transformed from a regional ride-hailing service into a comprehensive super app that seamlessly integrates multiple daily services—ride-hailing, food and grocery delivery, digital payments, and more—into one user-friendly platform. The application includes the following key features that is unique to the region and globally:
- Integrated Service Ecosystem: Careem’s super app combines ride-hailing, food delivery, payments, and more, allowing customers to access multiple services without switching apps. This seamless integration reduces friction and enhances the overall user experience.
- Customer-Centric Design: The app’s intuitive interface and personalized recommendations cater to diverse customer needs, improving usability and satisfaction.
- Localized Innovation: Careem’s deep understanding of regional customer preferences and challenges has enabled tailored solutions, such as cash payment options and localized language support, boosting accessibility and inclusivity.
- Data-Driven Personalization: Leveraging data analytics, Careem offers personalized promotions and service suggestions that increase engagement and loyalty.
- Social Impact and Community Engagement: Beyond CX, Careem has invested in community initiatives and sustainability, strengthening its brand reputation and customer trust.
How Others Can Succeed in CX Innovation?
- Adopt a Holistic Approach: Like Careem, companies should aim to integrate multiple customer needs into a single, seamless platform to reduce complexity and enhance convenience.
- Focus on Localization: Understanding and addressing local market nuances and customer preferences is critical for relevance and adoption.
- Leverage Data Intelligently: Use customer data to personalize experiences and anticipate needs, but maintain transparency and trust.
- Prioritize Accessibility and Inclusion: Ensure services are accessible to diverse customer segments, including those with limited digital literacy or payment options.
- Invest in Community and Social Impact: Building a brand that resonates beyond transactions fosters deeper customer loyalty and advocacy.
- Continuously Innovate: CX innovation is ongoing; companies must iterate based on customer feedback and emerging technologies.
Careem’s success exemplifies how CX innovation rooted in integration, personalization, and local relevance can create transformative customer experiences that set new industry standards. Other organizations aiming for CX excellence should draw lessons from Careem’s approach to build customer-centric, inclusive, and innovative solutions that truly resonate with their audiences.
This recognition aligns with the 2025 Transform Awards emphasis on transformative tech and connected culture, highlighting Careem’s role as a leader in shaping the future of customer experience in the digital age.
Great Experience AwardTM
Transformidy’s Great Experience AwardTM is presented monthly and showcases excellence in experience strategy design or execution. Companies are welcomed to submit entrants with support like demos, pictures, videos, press release or description (no bigger than 5Mb in size), for this monthly award with experience ideas, innovations, or initiatives curated for customers, employees, or stakeholders.
Transformidy will evaluate all entrants and will make the final decision on the winner based on factors including but not limited to how the experience(s) transform or improve the way the company engages, acquires, supports, or maintains its customers, employees, or stakeholders. The experience(s) for consideration can be physical, online, or virtual.
How Can We Help?
Transformidy is available to assist in helping you understand trust and assess how your company’s experience strategy’s effectiveness in generating engagement, satisfaction, and business growth.
Contact us or set up a 30 minute complimentary consultation for more information on our services, insights, or showcases. We look forward to hearing from you.
