Around mid-2021, India was witnessing another wave of COVID-19, though it was all gloomy around, people were encouraged to find the solutions to the new problems that had emerged during this period. Among these were two batchmates from Stanford University who had returned to Mumbai due to the pandemic. They observed how their neighbors and even their families were facing problems in getting daily supplies from the market. Most of the grocery shops were closed during this phase of lockdown and to add onto this the delivery guys took 4-5 days to deliver.
To eradicate this problem Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra came together and founded Zepto (known as Kiranakart back then) – a next-door quick commerce app delivering online groceries, fruits, personal care, electronics, and much more in a few minutes.
Recent in News
Zepto secures $665M funding in Series E taking its valuation to $3.6B approximately. This fund would help the startup build more dark stores to stock its products as the firm plans to strengthen its base in non-grocery items.
First Traction
The Mumbai-headquartered firm announced its first seed funding on 1 September 2020. The Qcommerce startup raised $500K, which was led by the contrary. Believe it or not, Zepto started as a WhatsApp group in one of Mumbai’s societies.
Year-over-Year Analysis
In 2021, the company was valued at $225M and it raised a total funding of $7M which included a Series A funding of $6.5M led by Nexus Venture Partners. The company incurred a net loss of $300K in its first operational year.
For the next financial year, the B2C-modeled startup observed a huge surge in its valuation to $900M. The total revenue was $18.9M and the firm secured $110M in funding this year taking its total funding to $167M. The Mumbai-based firm had a net loss of $53.2M in the same year.
For FY23, the total revenue generated was $251.7M. The company became a unicorn this year with its valuation reaching $1.4B as of August 23. The company also managed to cut its revenue and expenses gap as the firm observed a net loss of $158.6.
In the next fiscal year, the firm raised two funds in Series E of $31.3M and $231M. Hence the total fund raised by the startup was $629.3M. As of now, the firm is valued at $3.6B+ with the latest fund in Series F of $665M, announced on June 21, 2004.
Competitors
The firm ranks 4th out of its 33 competitors. Dunzo, BlinkIt, Swiggy’s Instamart, Scooton, and Deliveroo are some of them. Zepto has a market share of 10% bettered BY SwiggyInstamart and BlinkIt.
Expansion
The Qcommerece sector firm plans to double its dark stores to more than 700 by March 2025 by reinvesting sales from mature stores to fund the planned growth. This move is being planned to stock a larger assortment of products as they move big-time into non-grocery items. By the looks of it, Zepto might launch its initial IPO(Initial Public Offering) soon.
