Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has joined Daimler AG, the world’s biggest luxury-car maker, as an investor in a $500 million-fundraising by a Dubai-based ride-hailing company.

Alwaleed’s investment vehicle, Kingdom Holding Co., will get a seat on Careem Networks FZ’s board as part of the deal, Careem said in a statement. DCM Ventures and New York-based Coatue Management LLC also took part in the second round of fundraising, which valued the company at $1 billion, the ride-hailing company said.

Careem raised $350 million from investors including Japan’s Rakuten Inc. and Saudi Telecom Co. when it announced the results of its first round of fundraising in December. The company could consider selling shares to the public by 2019, Chief Executive Officer Mudassir Sheikha said in a TV interview with Bloomberg at the time.

Investment is flowing into Middle Eastern technology startups with companies seeking to profit from the region’s wealthy consumer base and high smartphone penetration rates.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-15/saudi-billionaire-alwaleed-daimler-invest-in-uber-rival-careem

• Careem clearly wants to profit from the troubles at Uber.