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Zepto becomes India's newest unicorn
The two-year-old quick-commerce startup Zepto is now India's newest unicorn, as it has raised $200 million in a fresh funding round at a valuation of $1.4 billion.
The new Series E round was led by StepStone Group, with participation from Goodwater Capital and existing investors --- Nexus Venture Partners, Glade Brook Capital, and Lachy Groom, among others.
The funding comes a year after it raised $200 million in a Series D round led by American technology startup accelerator Y Combinator's Continuity Fund. The quick commerce giant was valued at $900 million at that time.
Founded in 2021 by Stanford dropouts Kaivalya Vohra and Aadit Palicha, Zepto operates an online grocery delivery platform with a presence in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Noida, and Pune. The current round of funding would help the startup strengthen its presence in the existing operational areas, the statement said.
Interestingly, Zepto plans to go public in the next two years after becoming a profitable startup in its segment. The startup said that its sales have grown by 300% year-on-year and will likely achieve $1 billion in annualised sales within the next few quarters.
"This business is about execution, and we are succeeding because our execution is strong. Our culture of deep frugality and worshipping customers has gotten us here, but there is still so much for us to achieve. We are in this to build a generational company, and it truly feels like this is just the beginning," said Aadit Palicha, co-founder and CEO of Zepto.
"Even with this capital, we want to maintain our discipline, avoid complacency, and push hard to hit EBITDA positivity. In that journey, the biggest drivers of P&L improvement for us are based on technology and product. We are building one of the best supply chain product stacks in the country today, and we are investing heavily in customer-facing products as well. This technical excellence is in our DNA, and I'm excited about the next phase of building," said Kaivalya Vohra, co-founder and CTO of Zepto.
Recently, Zepto partnered with shared electric two-wheeler mobility startup Yulu as part of its plans to move to an all-electric vehicle fleet and maximise green deliveries.
The latest addition of Zepto to the unicorn startup club comes several months after the Indian startup ecosystem began facing a funding winter, which significantly reduced the number of emerging unicorns.
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