Ninja, the Saudi-based quick commerce startup founded by HungerStation’s Ebrahim Al-Jassim, has raised around $250 million in new funding from local investors, reaching a reported valuation of $1.5 billion and becoming one of the Kingdom’s newest tech unicorns.
Founded in 2022 by Al-Jassim, Saud Al Qahtani, and Canberk Donmez, Ninja began as a grocery delivery platform and has since expanded to include food delivery. It operates across Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait, and claims to be the country’s largest grocery delivery service by GMV, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in annual volume. The company is reportedly targeting a public listing by 2027.
Ninja competes in a crowded and fast-moving market that includes HungerStation, Nana, Jahez, Careem, Noon, and recently Meituan’s Keeta — all aiming to capture share in the Kingdom’s growing demand for rapid, tech-enabled commerce infrastructure.
The latest funding round, which remains undisclosed but was first reported by Bloomberg, is being led by Riyad Capital, the investment arm of Riyad Bank. While the firm launched 1957 Ventures last year to focus on fintech, this investment is expected to come from its main entity due to the size of the round. Riyad Capital also manages the Riyad Taqnia Fund (RTF), one of the Kingdom’s earliest VC vehicles, and has backed several notable tech companies including Foodics, Unifonic, and Tamara.
Ninja previously raised $30 million in seed funding in 2022 at a post-money valuation of $180–200 million. Its growth has positioned it as one of the most closely watched Saudi startups, emblematic of the Kingdom’s broader push to scale local tech companies into global players.
