Zepto, a quick commerce company has raised another $340 million (₹2,850 crore) in a follow-on financing round led by US-based venture capital firm General Catalyst. Existing backers like StepStone, Lightspeed, DST and Contrary also increased their stakes in the company by infusing more capital.
The fundraising comes after the three-year-old startup raised $665 million (about ₹5,560 crore) in June 2024. The funding round valued the firm at $5 billion, a significant increase from $3.6 billion in June.
The firm has raised over $1 billion in 2024, $1.2 billion in the past 12 months, and more than $1.5 billion since its inception.
In FY23, the latest available financials, Zepto clocked a revenue of Rs 2,024 crore up from Rs 141 crore in FY22. That is a 1,335 percent jump year-on-year (YoY) albeit from a lower base. At the same time the company incurred a net loss of ₹1,272 crore in FY23 up around 3X from ₹390 crore in FY22.
“The rationale behind this follow-on financing was twofold. First, the opportunity to bring onboard a lead investor of Neeraj Arora’s calibre from General Catalyst was one we couldn’t pass on,” said Aadit Palicha, co-founder and CEO of Zepto.
“Second, strengthening our balance sheet is a strategic move, particularly as the company continues to deliver robust growth and operating leverage. While (the) recent financing reflects strong confidence in Zepto’s performance to date, we recognise there is still a lot of execution ahead of us to fulfil our ambition of building a world-class internet company out of India,” Palicha said while shedding more light on the reason to raise capital.
Founded in 2021 by Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, Zepto serves millions of customers by delivering over 10,000 products across various categories within 10 minutes through a network of delivery hubs nationwide.
Zepto plans to double its dark stores to 700 by March 2025 and expand into new markets such as Nasik, Chandigarh, Vizag, and Ahmedabad. The company also aims to strengthen its presence in existing metro cities.
“We will hit the 700 dark-store mark and then re-evaluate on dark-store expansion and how we want to expand. We want to see the profitability of the dark stores at that scale by then and move accordingly,” Palicha said.
“I’ve known Aadit and Kaivalya for several years, and they are truly exceptional founders who turned their bold mission to modernise India’s grocery sector into a category-defining company,” said Neeraj Arora, Managing Director, General Catalyst.
“This is one of our first investments in India following the merger of Venture Highway and General Catalyst. We are thrilled to partner with Zepto, and believe their quick commerce model is setting the standard for the future of e-commerce in India and beyond,” he added.
“Quick commerce addresses the convenience, variety and value needs of urban India which is a massive opportunity. We have been impressed by Zepto’s execution, data-driven approach and ambition to build an enduring company,” said Aakash Tulsani, Managing Director at Dragon Fund.
