The story of Sary: is Sary the next Saudi startup worth a billion?
The story of Sary and its founders Mohammed Aldossary and Khalid Alsaeri: from a wholesale app for individuals to a platform that delivers goods to groceries and restaurants the Careem way, to rounds led by Sanabil, and the merger with ShopUp into the Silk group.
Full film transcript
In 2019, the valuation of a Saudi startup was under $3 million.
And six years later, according to Dealroom estimates, it was above 400 million.
Its name is Sary. And this is the story of the grocery store that changed an entire company's plan.
The founder, Mohammed Aldossary, worked in banks, and then became a Careem manager in Riyadh.
Together with Khalid Alsaeri, he founded Sary in 2018.
It started as a wholesale app for individuals. But the real demand came from somewhere else: grocery stores.
A grocery owner wastes hours hunting for goods at wholesale prices.
So Sary started delivering goods to groceries and restaurants from one app, and they pay later.
And they started the Careem way: no warehouses, no vehicles.
In March 2020, with COVID, Sary sold in a single month half of the previous year's sales.
And investors caught up: $6 million, then $30 million, then $75 million led by Sanabil.
And it acquired a company in Egypt.
In 2025, it merged with Bangladesh's ShopUp, and together they became a group called Silk.
And they raised $110 million, led by Sanabil and Valar, which is affiliated with Peter Thiel.
Its official valuation? Undisclosed. But the founder says the goal is a $10 billion company.
The lesson for you as a founder: sometimes, the real customer isn't the one you built the product for.
Follow us at Saudi Founders.
Detailed figures and sources are in the Sary profile in the directory.
