The archive · Consumer Apps · Strategic decision · 2022–2026
Ninja's Saudi q-commerce bet: $250M round, $1.5B unicorn, 2027 IPO
Ninja bet Saudis would pay online for 30-minute grocery delivery; $250M from Riyad Capital made it a $1.5B unicorn heading for a 2027 IPO
Ninja
What the business is
Ninja runs vertically integrated quick commerce: its own micro-fulfillment dark stores, courier fleet, app and AI-managed inventory deliver groceries and daily essentials in under 30 minutes across Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.
How it started
Saud Al Qahtani and Canberk Donmez founded Ninja in Riyadh in 2022, after instant-delivery apps proved themselves elsewhere. A pre-seed led by Bunat Ventures in early 2023, with regional, US and Saudi family-office VCs, funded the first dark stores.
What happened
Ninja expanded beyond groceries into pharmacy, cosmetics, supplements and pet food, added telemedicine with e-prescriptions, and required online payment at order time, offering Tabby instalments at checkout. By mid-2025 it ran 100+ dark stores across 28 cities in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.
How it ended up
In July 2025 Ninja closed a ~$250M pre-IPO round led by Riyad Capital at a $1.5B valuation, becoming Saudi Arabia's newest unicorn three years after founding; company statements cited profitable core operations and >$1B 2025 revenue, with a Tadawul IPO targeted by 2027.
Background
Ninja was founded in Riyadh in 2022 by Saud Al Qahtani and Canberk Donmez, who bet that Saudi consumers would buy groceries and daily essentials online and pay for them at order time. A pre-seed led by Bunat Ventures in early 2023 backed the first dark stores.
Instead of aggregating existing supermarkets, Ninja built the whole chain: micro-fulfillment dark stores, its own riders, AI-managed inventory and a cashless app that took cards, wallets and Tabby BNPL. It expanded from groceries into pharmacy, cosmetics, supplements and pet food, and added telemedicine with e-prescriptions.
The bet paid off quickly. By July 2025 the company had 100+ dark stores across 28 cities in four Gulf markets, claimed profitability in core operations, and closed a ~$250M round led by Riyad Capital that valued it at $1.5B — Saudi Arabia's newest unicorn, three years after launch, with an IPO targeted by 2027.
What has to be true
- Saudi consumers were already among the world's heaviest app users, and instant-delivery expectations were set globally before any local player owned the category
- Requiring online payment at checkout avoided the collection and fraud costs that plague cash-on-delivery markets, improving unit economics early
- Owning dark stores, riders and inventory let Ninja guarantee delivery times instead of depending on third-party merchants
- Riyad Capital's $250M check showed regional capital would price a homegrown category leader at unicorn level rather than waiting for global entrants
What can be applied
When consumer behavior shifts, owning delivery and payment risk end to end can outrun aggregators — Ninja's vertical model priced a three-year-old company at $1.5B
Aftermath
As of 2026-03-23, Ninja operates in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar and is evaluating a Riyadh IPO, meeting investors and selecting advisory banks, with a listing possible in 2026 or early 2027. Company statements, reported by Wamda, put 2025 revenue near $1B with a 2026 target of $1.6B. How quickly the exit happens now depends on market conditions and the Saudi exchange's appetite for tech listings.
Sources
- Ninja raises $250 million, hits unicorn valuation ahead of planned IPO
- Saudi's Ninja Becomes Quick Commerce Unicorn in Record Time
- Ninja explores Riyadh listing as Saudi market holds steady despite tensions
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