instant grocery delivery app
Instant grocery startup Zepto has raised $200 million in a new financing round as it looks to expand its 10-minute-delivery service to more cities in India and grow its network of dark stores.
Existing backer Y Combinator Continuity led Zepto’s Series D round, valuing the Mumbai-headquartered startup at about $900 million, up from $570 million in its December Series C round and $225 million in a round unveiled in late October.
Kaiser Permanente, the giant healthcare firm, which also operates a venture arm, as well as all key existing investors including Nexus Venture Partners, Glade Brook Capital, Contrary Capital and Lachy Groom participated in the new round, the startup said Monday evening.
There’s no secondary transaction in the new round, which brings the startup’s to-date raise to $360 million.
At 19, Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra co-founded Zepto. The duo, who had previously worked on a number of projects including a ride-hailing commute app for school kids and dropped out of Stanford two years ago, took Zepto out of stealth mode in November last year.
Its 10-minute delivery service is today operational in 11 cities across India and it processes hundreds of thousands of orders each day, Palicha, who serves as Zepto’s chief executive, told TechCrunch in an interview.
The startup’s current annualized revenue is between $200 million to $400 million, he said, a figure he is determined to grow to “at least a $1 billion” by the quarter ending March next year.
The surge in revenue comes as the startup has consistently grown by over 50% each month in recent months, he said. In the most recent quarter, the startup grew its revenue by 800% while slashing its expenses per order by more than five times, he said.
In India, Zepto is among the earliest startups attempting to prove the quick commerce model, a category that has taken off in several markets including North America and Europe. However, a number of startups operating in the space have either scaled down their efforts or shut down completely as many venture investors lose appetite for fast delivery.
Zepto competes with Swiggy, India’s most valuable food delivery startup and one that has committed to investing more than $700 million on its quick commerce service, called Instamart.
instant grocery delivery app
