LinkedIn Top Startups 2023: The 10 Saudi companies on the rise

The past year has been challenging for global companies across sectors, marked by continued inflation and tightened capital. However, times of uncertainty can push companies to adapt and innovate — and lead to new opportunities for emerging industries. For Saudi Arabia, while 2023 did not keep with the previous year’s growth pace, the kingdom ranked first among its MENA peers in terms of funding value with nearly $450 million in the first half of the year, reported MAGNiTT.??

Our 3rd annual LinkedIn Top Startups list is a testament to that spirit of innovation, featuring 10 Saudi companies that are growing fast and gaining attention. These are the startups that have trailblazed their way through recent economic and workplace challenges — and managed to stand out to investors and top talent along the way.

To compile the list, we looked at LinkedIn data across four pillars: employee growth; jobseeker interest; member engagement with the company and its employees; and how well these startups pulled talent from our flagship LinkedIn Top Companies list. (You can learn more about our methodology at the bottom of this article.)

This list is ultimately meant to be a resource for you. At each company, you’ll find actionable insights on the roles, skills and functions in demand. See a startup that sparks your interest? Connect with employees you may know at each company, or turn on job alerts to stay on top of future opportunities.

Here are this year’s 10 Top Startups in Saudi Arabia — and join the conversation using #LinkedInTopStartups.

Full-time headcount: 95 | Year founded: 2016 | Most common skills: Leadership, Communication, Digital Literacy | Most common job titles: Account Manager, Customer Experience Manager, Software Engineer | Largest job functions: Sales, Engineering, Customer Success and Support | What they do: Lucidya, a customer experience management platform, uses AI and Arabic Natural Language Processing to analyze interactions across various online channels. It helps brands better understand their customers.

See jobs at Lucidya | See people you may know at Lucidya

Full-time headcount: 434 | Year founded: 2020 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Leadership, Communication | Most common job titles: Customer Service Specialist, Product Manager, Data Analyst | Largest job functions: Customer Success and Support, Business Development, Information Technology | What they do: Tamara provides unbanked users with options to split payment. Earlier this year, the fintech company closed a $150 million debt financing round from Goldman Sachs.

See jobs at Tamara | See people you may know at Tamara

Full-time headcount: 400 | Year founded: 2017 | Most common skills: Leadership, Digital Literacy, Business Management | Most common job titles: Sales Executive, Product Manager, Accountant | Largest job functions: Sales, Customer Success and Support, Human Resources | What they do: Zid provides e-commerce solutions to businesses, such as setting up digital stores, allowing retailers to have a presence online. It has recently launched an online marketplace Mazeed.

See jobs at Zid | See people you may know at Zid

Full-time headcount: 410* | Year founded: 2016 | Most common skills: Leadership, Digital Literacy, Business Management | Most common job titles: Customer Service Representative, Logistics Supervisor, Software Engineer | Largest job functions: Operations, Marketing, Sales | What they do: Nana is an e-grocery delivery platform that promises to execute all orders within 15 minutes using dark stores or facilities that are not open to the public. Earlier this year, it closed an investment round of $133 million.

See jobs at Nana | See people you may know at Nana

Full-time headcount: 68 | Year founded: 2020 | Most common skills: Web Development, Leadership, Data Science | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Fraud Specialist, Graphic Designer | Largest job functions: Engineering, Finance, Marketing | What they do: Tweeq offers services that allow individuals and small businesses to make or receive payments, set short or long-term financial goals and manage spending across different categories.

See jobs at Tweeq | See people you may know at Tweeq

Full-time headcount: 70* | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Leadership, Digital Literacy, Data Science | Most common job titles: Business Development Officer, Software Engineer, Relationship Manager | Largest job functions: Sales, Engineering, Business Development | What they do: Lendo is a peer-to-peer lending platform that provides debt financing to small businesses. It was the first company to launch a Shariah-compliant debt crowdfunding platform in the kingdom.

See jobs at Lendo | See people you may know at Lendo

Full-time headcount: 79* | Year founded: 2016 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Leadership, Business Management | Most common job titles: Business Development Officer, Sales Executive, Customer Service Specialist | Largest job functions: Sales, Customer Success and Support, Business Development | What they do: Gathern is a women-led, peer-to-peer vacation rental marketplace in Saudi Arabia. The startup began as a platform for chalet rental and has since evolved to include more accommodation options, like rooms and villas.

See jobs at Gathern | See people you may know at Gathern

Full-time headcount: 262 | Year founded: 2016 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Leadership, Web Development | Most common job titles: Technical Service Representative, Product Manager, Back End Developer | Largest job functions: Information Technology, Engineering, Customer Success and Support | What they do: Salla e-Commerce platform enables small businesses to establish digital stores through its platform, allowing them to set up their operations for free and upgrade their subscriptions based on their requirements.

See jobs at Salla | See people you may know at Salla

Full-time headcount: 45* | Year founded: 2021 | Most common skills: Leadership, Data Science, Communication | Most common job titles: Product Analyst, Customer Service Specialist, Operational Specialist | Largest job functions: Operations, Research, Sales | What they do: Soum is an e-commerce C2C marketplace where consumers can sell and buy used electronic devices.

See more about Soum | See people you may know at Soum

Full-time headcount: 500 | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Digital Literacy, Leadership, Business Management | Most common job titles: Account Manager, Office Associate, Salesperson | Largest job functions: Operations, Sales, Marketing | What they do: Sary is a B2B marketplace that connects small businesses with wholesalers and lenders to efficiently procure supplies.

See jobs at Sary | See people you may know at Sary

You can also check out the Top Startups in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands (Dutch & English), Singapore, Saudi Arabia (Arabic), Spain, Sweden (Swedish & English), Türkiye, the UAE (English & Arabic), the UK and the U.S.

Methodology

LinkedIn measures startups based on four pillars: employment growth, engagement, job interest and attraction of top talent. Employment growth is measured as percentage headcount increase over methodology time frame, which must be a minimum of 10%. Engagement looks at non-employee views and follows of the company’s LinkedIn page, as well as how many non-employees are viewing employees at that startup. Job interest counts rate at which people are viewing and applying to jobs at the company, including both paid and unpaid postings. Attraction of top talent measures how many employees the startup has recruited away from any global LinkedIn Top Company, as a percentage of the startup’s total workforce. Data is normalized across all eligible startups. The methodology time frame is July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023.?

To be eligible, companies must be fully independent, privately held, have 30 or more full-time employees, be 7 years old or younger and be headquartered in the country on whose list they appear. We exclude all staffing firms, think tanks, venture capital firms, law firms, management and IT consulting firms, nonprofits and philanthropy, accelerators and government-owned entities. Startups who have laid off 20% or more of their workforce based on corporate announcements or public, reliable sources between July 1, 2022 and the list launch, are not eligible. These decisions are made by the LinkedIn News team based on company statements and/or reputable news outlets.

About company insights

*Company insights were sourced from LinkedIn Talent Insights. Data reflects aggregated public member data from active LinkedIn profiles in the relevant country and includes full-time employee profiles associated with the company on LinkedIn. We exclude members who identify as part-time or contractors. Headcounts are provided by the companies directly, unless otherwise noted with an asterisk. Those headcounts are based on LinkedIn data. All insights reflect a 12-month time period looking back from July 2023. Skills data was derived from measuring the most frequent skills among a company’s employees. Most common job titles represent the occupations that are most common within each company. Largest job function measures the function area most prevalent within each company.

Reported and proofread by: Dana Moukhallati

Methodology and insights by: LinkedIn's Economic Graph

Special Projects Leads: Marina Valero (Region), Michele Pierri (International), Juliette Faraut

Managing Editor: Lynn Chouman

Regional Lead: Julien Wettstein

International Executive Editor: Sandrine Chauvin

Honoree companies: 1. Lucidya | 2. Tamara | 3. Zid | 4. Nana | 5. Tweeq | 6. Lendo | 7. Gathern | 8. Salla | 9. Soum | 10. Sary