Key Highlights:
Zepto, a Mumbai-based company has more than quadrupled its valuation to $570 million from $225 million less than two months ago.
Zepto provides a 10-minute grocery delivery service, a category that has grown extremely popular in numerous areas of the world in recent quarters.
Zepto now operates in Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Chennai, and Hyderabad, with plans to expand to Pune and Kolkata in the near future.
Zepto quadruples its valuation
As it grows into more locations, Zepto, a Mumbai-based company that offers a 10-minute rapid grocery delivery service, has more than quadrupled its valuation to $570 million from $225 million less than two months ago.
According to the two companies, Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund led the $100 million Series C financing in Zepto. Glade Brook, Nexus, Breyer Capital, Lachy Groom, Global Founders Capital, and Contrary Capital all joined the round, bringing the total amount raised to $160 million.
The firm, created by two 19-year-old Stanford graduates who departed last year, emerged from stealth status in November. But, long before it started talking about the business, Zepto had piqued the curiosity of the local startup community, with people starting to voice their opinions about the company.
10-minute grocery delivery service
Zepto, whose name is a pun on a mathematical word, provides a 10-minute grocery delivery service, a category that has grown extremely popular in numerous areas of the world in recent quarters. Swiggy and BlinkIt (previously known as Grofers), two well-supported players, have also entered the rapid grocery delivery sector.
Zepto’s appearance in the scenario was also coincidental. Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra had returned to India for a vacation soon before the epidemic struck.
The adolescents, who had previously worked together on a variety of initiatives, including a ride-hailing commuting app for schoolchildren, were suddenly imprisoned in their Mumbai homes. As the epidemic raged, the two struggled to acquire their groceries, despite the fact that grocery delivery, deemed important by the local authorities, was still authorized throughout parts of the country.
Palicha said in an interview last week that the firm is overwhelmed by the love and enthusiasm it is receiving from consumers, but it does not want to “get comfortable.”
Vohra claims a 65 percent month-to-month customer retention rate and has established a network of micro-warehouses, each of which can handle over 2,500 orders per day.
Homecoming for newly hired executives
Zepto now operates in Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Chennai, and Hyderabad, with plans to expand to Pune and Kolkata in the near future. It has put up a maze of over 100 dark storefronts throughout these cities, which it claims are geared for speedy delivery, to assure immediate deliveries.
Another thing that is going well for Zepto is the talent it has been able to acquire in recent months. Several senior executives from Flipkart, Amazon, Uber, Dream 11, and Pharmeasy have joined the firm.
According to Palicha, one of the reasons so many executives have joined Zepto is that it has enabled those who had relocated from Mumbai to Bangalore to return to their hometown. However, the startup’s fast growth, meticulous execution, and goals have made it appealing to those with similar tastes, according to him. “We’ve managed to walk the walk,” he stated.
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