Aadit Palicha-led Zepto appoints Airtel’s Akhil Gupta to board ahead of IPO

Quick commerce unicorn Zepto has added Akhil Gupta, vice chairman of Bharti Enterprises, to its board as an independent director while it gears up for an initial public offering (IPO) later this year.

Gupta, a long‑time lieutenant of billionaire Sunil Mittal, helped steer Bharti Airtel's listing in 2002, Bharti Infratel's market debut in 2012, and Airtel Africa's float in 2019.

IPO ambitions get seasoned guidance

Gupta is known for striking cross‑border telecom alliances with British Telecom, Singapore Telecom, Vodafone and others, and for bringing marquee investors such as Warburg Pincus, Temasek and KKR into Bharti group companies.

His capital‑raising and governance background is expected to bolster Zepto's readiness for the upcoming IPO. The board also includes investor Anu Hariharan of Avra and Nexus Venture Partners' Suvir Sujan. 

Funding and investors

The Bengaluru‑based startup flipped its holding company back to India from Singapore earlier this year and has raised over $1.6 billion in funding so far.

Rounds of $665 million in June and $340 million in August 2024 were followed by $350 million from Motilal Oswal, Ranjan Pai's Claypond Capital and other domestic backers. Last month, ET reported that Zepto is in talks with existing investors to sell up to $250 million of their equity to widen its Indian shareholder base before listing.

Leadership changes

Zepto has been shuffling its senior leadership alongside board expansion. Devendra Meel, who heads the Pass loyalty program, was elevated to chief business officer last July, while Nikhil Mittal and Divesh Sawhney moved up to chief technology and chief growth roles, respectively.

The quick commerce giant has also witnessed departures, including former chief marketing officer Amritansu Nanda and finance veteran Ashish Shah, now CFO at DealShare. 

Zepto nears $4 billion in GMV

Quick‑commerce unicorn Zepto is closing in on an annualised gross order value of nearly $4 billion, up roughly 300% from a year ago, co‑founder and chief executive Aadit Palicha said in a LinkedIn post.

"Zepto is getting close to $4 billion in annualised GOV, which represents (roughly) 300% year-on-year growth (and around 30% growth since my last update in January). More importantly, we have reduced earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (excluding ESOPs) and operating cash flow (OCF) burn by 50% even as we grew meaningfully during the last 3 months," he wrote.