The story of Syarah: is Syarah the next Saudi startup worth a billion?
The story of “Syarah” and its founders Salah Sharef and Fayez Alanazi: from a classifieds site in 2015, to selling cars online with a 200+ point inspection and a 10-day return, and investments from Impact46, Elm, and Artal totaling about $94 million including debt.
Opens on YouTubeNarrated in Arabic. The full English transcript is below.
Full film transcript
You can buy a car from your phone, have it delivered to your doorstep, and if you don't like it, return it within ten days.
This is what a Saudi company called Syarah does.
And the question: is it the next unicorn?
One of its founders is Salah Sharef. According to Entrepreneur magazine, his first startup was Open Market.
And his partner, Fayez Alanazi, was a cardiac catheterization specialist before he entered the tech world.
In 2015, Syarah started as a classifieds site.
Then it started connecting buyers with dealerships, with vehicle history reports.
And in 2019, it made the big decision: sell the cars itself, online.
Today, every car is inspected on more than 200 points and prepared in its own facilities.
And it comes with a warranty of up to three years, financing, and a return within ten days.
The company says it sells about 2,000 cars a month.
And the investors: Impact46, Elm, and in 2024, $60 million led by Artal.
And the total is about $94 million, including debt.
Its valuation? Never announced. And there's no announced IPO.
The lesson for you as a founder: the hardest thing to sell online is trust. And if you build it, you can sell anything.
Follow us at Saudi Founders.
Detailed figures and sources are in the Syarah profile in the directory.
