About
A small studio where the founder writes the scope and works on the code
Nakhoda is a software studio in Dubai. We keep it small so that the person who scopes and prices your project also works on it.
Antonin Ribeaud, founder
Antonin has spent 12 years building software. He has been CTO of four startups, including Foundingbird, an online company-secretary service in Malaysia, and privately.ai, a document AI product whose code and IP he sold in 2025. He has worked as an engineer at Deezer and on the document AI of L'Oréal's R&D, where teams search more than 100 million pages. Before that, he shipped consumer apps in React Native, one of which reached the top 5 of the App Store.
He takes the first call, writes the scope, and works on the build. What he has built · LinkedIn · arelion.dev
The team
Nakhoda is a small team, and Antonin leads every project. The people who will build yours are named in its scope, so you know who they are before you sign.
The terms of every project
- Step one
- Scope first A written scope before any price. It is free, and you keep it.
- Price
- One figure Fixed before work starts. If our estimate is wrong, the extra work is on us.
- Last payment
- On acceptance You pay the final 20% once you accept the finished build.
- Ownership
- Your accounts Code, cloud and app store accounts registered to your company from day one.
The name
A nakhoda (nokhatha in Emirati Arabic) was the captain of a Gulf pearling boat. He chose where the crew would dive, and answered for the catch. We chose the name because a studio should answer for where it takes your project.
The company
Nakhoda is a brand of ARELION FZCO (ARELION INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANTS - FZCO), IFZA licence 78400, DSO-IFZA, IFZA Properties, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. ARELION's own site is arelion.dev.