Saudi Arabia-based quick delivery startup Ninja has achieved unicorn status, reaching a valuation of approximately $1.5 billion after securing around $250 million in funding from local investors, according to sources familiar with the matter. The recent funding round was led by prominent asset manager Riyad Capital. Ninja, founded in 2022, operates across Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait, providing rapid delivery services for a variety of products including groceries and pet food.
The company is targeting an initial public offering (IPO) by 2027, Bloomberg News reported in March, although representatives from Ninja and Riyad Capital declined to comment on the funding. Ninja’s emergence as a unicorn underscores Saudi Arabia’s growing prominence as a regional venture capital hub, even amid a global slowdown in startup funding. According to Magnitt data, startups in the Kingdom attracted nearly $400 million in investments during the first quarter of 2025.
Saudi Arabia, the largest economy in the Arab world, now boasts several unicorns, including fintech firms Tabby and Tamara, as part of the government’s strategic push to diversify beyond oil dependence by fostering a vibrant tech startup ecosystem. Ninja’s planned IPO would place it alongside other technology companies preparing to list on the Riyadh stock exchange, such as Tabby, which is reportedly working with major banks JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley, and Ejada Systems Ltd., which intends to reapply for its IPO after a previous window lapsed.
Riyad Capital is a key player in the Middle East’s startup investment landscape, having backed firms like Foodics and Unifonic. The firm pioneered venture capital in Saudi Arabia with the launch of the Riyad Taqnia Fund in 2016, further bolstering the Kingdom’s technology sector.
