Egypt-born e-commerce platform Rabbit officially launched operations in Saudi Arabia, establishing its regional headquarters in Riyadh, according to a press release (pdf). The company is targeting Saudi Arabia’s USD 60 bn food and grocery market, with plans to deliver 20 mn items across major cities by 2026. No details on the size of Rabbit’s investment in Saudi Arabia were provided.

How will Rabbit deliver? Backed by AI and hyper-efficient logistics, the company aims “to transform the grocery shopping experience for Saudi households, and deliver the best products…in just 20 minutes,” co-founder and CEO Ahmed Yousry said. “We’re building Rabbit Saudi, for Saudis, by Saudi hands,” he added, emphasizing that priority will be given to local suppliers and talent. “We’ve spent the last four years building and refining our tech stack in-house to make sure it enables fast, reliable, and seamless delivery at scale,” the CEO told Enterprise.

Why Saudi Arabia? Rabbit sees the Kingdom as a prime location for expansion, as local online grocery sales are currently at a low of 1.3%, compared to 5.3% in the UAE and 4.8% in the US. Moreover, the company aims to replicate in the Kingdom the experience it had in Egypt, where it achieved 8.5x revenue growth over two years and delivered over 40 mn items to 1.4 mn customers in three and a half years.

One key difference in Saudi Arabia is the growing use of motorcycles for deliveries, a shift from the traditional car-based model, which has enabled Rabbit’s ultra-fast delivery promise, Yousry told Enterprise. While some areas pose logistical challenges, the market is better structured overall than others where the company has operated before.

DATA POINT- The e-commerce sector saw one of the highest numbers in new business registrations, issuing 40.7k licenses during 1H 2024 — that’s about 18% of all businesses registered. Moreover, the industry is projected to reach a market valuation of USD 13.2 bn by 2025.

ICYMI- Rabbit secured its license to operate in Saudi Arabia from the Investment Ministry backin 2022 and currently operates fulfillment centers in selected neighborhoods across Riyadh, storing and delivering a wide variety of local and international products.

Future plans: Rabbit already covers 50% of Riyadh and plans to expand citywide before moving beyond the capital city, Yousry told us. In the long term, it’s looking at other markets across the GCC and Africa, positioning itself as a daily-use platform for the broader region.

About Rabbit: The Cairo-born company was founded in 2021 by Ahmad Yousry (LinkedIn), Ismail Hafez (LinkedIn), Tarek El Geresy (LinkedIn), and Walid Shabana (LinkedIn) to deliver products in as little as 20 minutes through its network of dark stores. Along the way, the food delivery company’s growth attracted investors such as Lorax Capital Partners, Global Ventures, and Raed Ventures.

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