Lai Chang Wen was born in 1987 and studied finance at Singapore Management University. He turned down a government scholarship and worked as a derivatives trader at Barclays. In 2010 he co-founded the menswear brand Marcella.
Unable to find reliable deliveries for Marcella, Lai and his co-founders Shaun Chong and Boxian Tan built route-planning software and began delivering parcels themselves. Ninja Van was founded in 2014. They had no logistics experience, took 90% pay cuts, and paid couriers to explain the job.
Monk's Hill Ventures led a $2.5 million Series A in March 2015, followed by $30 million in 2016 and about $87 million in 2018 with DPDgroup. By 2019 Ninja Van handled about 1 million parcels a day. A $578 million Series E in September 2021 valued it above $1 billion.
In March 2023 Lai held off an IPO until profitability improved. The company cut jobs in May and July 2024, and its Vietnam operations were suspended in September 2024 over delayed salaries.