Unicorn Quick-commerce Startup Zepto’s co-founder, Aadit Palicha, shared at the seventh JIIF Foundation Day event in New Delhi that the company’s sales have shown the potential to surpass the sales made by offline retail major DMart in the coming 18-24 months.
The co-founder and CEO elaborated that while DMart is a $30 billion company, Zepto with a consistent growth of 2-3 times annually, can manage to surpass the former in the next 18-24 months. The grocery & other household essentials platform is only 4.5 times the size of its sales at present.
Palicha added that a well-executed strategy should take the company revenue further from 10,000 crore currently to $2.5 trillion over the next 5-10 years. As per the co-founder, the grocery and household essentials business is wider than other businesses of apparel, electronics, and furniture, and he further estimated the Indian grocery market from being $ 650 billion in FY23 at 9% CAGR, to be worth $850 billion by FY29 with the top 50-75 million households falling in the top 40 cities of the country accounting for $400 billion of the total amount.
Zepto had recently raised a massive $ 665 million in a Series F funding round at a $3.6 billion valuation with the round being co-led by existing investors—StepStone Group, Nexus Venture Partners, Glade Brook Capital, Goodwater and Lachy Groom, and new investors— Avenir Growth, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Avra. In August 2021, the firm became a unicorn after it had raised $235 million in a Series E funding round at a $1.4 billion valuation.
The quick commerce startup, founded in 2021, reached a ₹10,000 crore revenue mark within three years of its inception and is aiming for its public listing in the coming 12-15 months while assuming a profitable position.
Mumbai-Headquarted Startup aims to operate around 700 dark stores in the top 20 cities of India by March 2025 as it currently has around 350 dark stores in the country’s top 10 cities, taking 5.5 lakh orders a day and holding 29% market share in the quick e-commerce sector.
Palicha also referred to the company as a hyperlocal Walmart, looking to extend its services to cities such as Jaipur, Chandigarh, and Ahmedabad, while expanding in its existing markets of Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.
