LEAP Impact: From first investment to unicorn booth

“Today we are turning a new page of Ejari's journey.”

That’s how Ejari marked its latest milestone on LinkedIn – a public recognition from the National Technology Development Program (NTDP), presented by Abdullah Alswaha (Minister, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Saudi Arabia) alongside Ibrahim Neyaz (CEO, National Technology Development Program).

An honour like this might read like a summit; an end goal for a startup. But for Ejari, it’s another step into the future – because instead of being about one moment, this is a story about momentum. 

It started with friction

Yazeed (Co-Founder & CEO of Ejari) began with frustration. A Saudi-born entrepreneur educated in Britain and with early career experience in Japan, he returned home and came up against a rental system that operated almost entirely on yearly payments. For tenants, that meant heavy upfront costs and limited flexibility.

“Some landlords offer flexibility, like paying every six months, but they increase the price by 20%, which is unreasonable. It’s a very traditional system with no background checks or credit screening, just a take-it-or-leave-it approach.”

Then friction became the foundation

Yazeed built Ejari to offer monthly rental options and modernise the process, using algorithms and AI to track rental insights, reduce paperwork, prevent fraud and improve efficiency across the real estate sector.

Today, the company:

• Operates across 18 cities in 8 regions in Saudi Arabia
• Has received over $50 million in demand for its services
• Grew to a 21-person team in just 18 months

But none of that existed at the beginning.

The first yes was a pivotal moment 

Before funding rounds and recognition, there was belief.

The National Technology Development Program (NTDP) awarded Ejari its first $40,000 grant – followed by another $40,000 once early traction was proven. Alongside funding came office space, legal and financial support, and that elusive thing every early founder craves: validation.

That early spark helped turn an idea into a company.

Now, years later, Ejari is being recognised by the same programme among the top funded startups in Saudi Arabia. For founders, there’s something powerful in that symmetry. 

Showing up changes everything 

Ejari met its first investor at LEAP 2023.

A British VC fund invested $400,000 after their first meeting. A year later, they followed on with another $500,000. Soon after, Ejari closed a $1 million round in October 2023, followed by $15 million in October 2024.

Visibility was critical. 

“LEAP gave us the platform that we needed to showcase what we were doing. To connect with other entrepreneurs, to connect with investors, to connect with the audience, be it customers, government regulators, or potential partners,” said Yazeed.

He described LEAP as “truly a landmark event for startups.”

Far from just being a booth, LEAP was: 

• A first investor meeting
• Exposure to regulators and partners
• A Rocket Fuel pitch opportunity
• Panels, dinners and ecosystem conversations
• A compressed week of connections that might otherwise take a year (or more, or…never happen)

This year, Ejari is returning to LEAP 2026 with a unicorn booth – an incredible marker of how far they’ve come, and (in our opinion) something to celebrate. 

The reality of building 

Growth looks clean on LinkedIn, but that’s not what it looks like in real life. 

Ejari’s team grew rapidly. They moved from government-subsidised shared spaces into their own office, and scaled operations across Saudi Arabia.

But building, as Yazeed put it, is not a comfortable process.

“Having a job is like going to the gym – you get tired, take a shower, and leave. What we're doing is more akin to extreme hiking. There’s no breaks, no showers, and the air gets harder to breathe.”

The path gets steeper as you climb. The air gets thinner, and the stakes rise.

But if you have the grit to get to each summit and never give up, you find a wider horizon every time. 

What can founders take from this? 

Ejari’s journey is about accumulation – small wins that stack.

These are the lessons we think early-stage founders can take from this: 

• Solve a problem you’ve lived, because friction is fuel.
• Take early support seriously. Grants, mentorship and shared offices can be catalytic.
• Show up in the right places (yes, we do mean LEAP). Conversations with the right people can change everything.
• Build relationships. Capital follows trust.
• Treat every ‘no’ as calibration. Iteration is part of the climb.

Maybe that’s why Ejari’s recent announcement feels more grounded than triumphant.

“It’s a proud milestone,” the startup wrote on LinkedIn. “But make no mistake, this is just the beginning.”

See you at LEAP 2026 

If you’re building, then show up. Pitch on the Rocket Fuel stage. Connect in the Matchmaking Zone. Share your story – even before it feels finished.

Because sometimes the first step on the mountain is simply being in the room.