The Ninja story: a unicorn in three years, built on dark stores

Imagine a founder who builds a delivery company, sells it, then years later builds a second company and considers buying back the first. This is the story of Ninja.

The founders

Ninja was founded in Riyadh in 2022 by Ibrahim Aljassim, Saud Al Qahtani and Canberk Donmez. Ibrahim chairs its board.

According to MENAbytes, he is the same founder who started HungerStation, the company that got millions of people in Saudi Arabia used to ordering food online.

The next wave

People no longer wanted just food. They wanted groceries, the pharmacy and household items, delivered in minutes.

The idea: dark stores

Ninja doesn't rely on regular grocery shops. It runs dark stores: stores no customer walks into, designed only to pick your order and get it to you within minutes.

• Groceries and fresh produce
• Medicine
• Household items
• And later, food delivery

It started in Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province, then expanded to Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait.

When you own the warehouse, you control the speed instead of waiting on someone else.

Funding

• January 2023: A pre-seed round led by Bunat Ventures.
• July 2025: A $250 million round led by Riyad Capital at a $1.5 billion valuation, making it a unicorn.

The company says its 2025 revenue was close to $1 billion. MENAbytes notes the figure may refer to gross order value rather than revenue.

Back to the beginning

In June 2026, reports said Ninja was considering a bid for HungerStation, with talks at an early stage. A month later, in July 2026, Uber announced a deal to acquire Delivery Hero, HungerStation's owner.

Ninja is now exploring a listing on the Saudi stock market, with no date announced.

The lesson for you as a founder

An exit isn't the end of the story. What you learned in your first company can be your real capital in the second.

Sources: Wamda 2023, MENAbytes March 2025, Wamda 2025, Bloomberg 2025, Wamda 2026, Enterprise 2026, Arab News 2026.