Zepto raises $340 million, mops up $1 billion this year – Times of India

MUMBAI: Quick commerce startup Zepto has raised another $340 million in funding led by US-based venture capital firm General Catalyst at a valuation of $5 billion, bagging a total of $1 billion in funding from investors in 2024. In the span of a year, the startup’s valuation has more than tripled. Zepto had turned unicorn after investors infused about $235 million into the company at a valuation of $1.4 billion in Aug last year.
The fresh investment is an extension of its funding round as part of which the quick commerce startup had garnered $665 million in funding from investors at a valuation of $3.6 billion in June. Dragon Fund and Epiq Capital joined the firm’s cap table in the follow on round while existing backers such as StepStone, Lightspeed, DST, and Contrary also participated and increased their stakes.

The quick commerce space has piqued investor interest amid rising consumer adoption of 10-15 minute delivery services. The convenience of rapid deliveries of a range of items at the customer’s doorstep has led more people to sign up platforms like Zepto, Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart which allow them to save time and stock up on household items with ease at any hour of the day. All three companies have expanded beyond groceries to deliver a host of other items ranging from trolley bags, toys, kitchen appliances to headphones and occasionally even iPhones. With quick commerce firms foraying into categories which had traditionally been the domain of e-commerce players, deep pocketed companies like Flipkart have also entered the space.
Zepto’s total fund count so far stands at over $1.5 billion. “The rationale behind this follow-on financing was two-fold. First, the opportunity to bring onboard a lead investor of Neeraj Arora’s calibre from General Catalyst was one we couldn’t pass on. Second, strengthening our balance sheet is a strategic move, particularly as the company continues to deliver robust growth and operating leverage,” Aadit Palicha, co-founder & CEO at Zepto said in a statement. In an interview to TOI in June, Palicha had said that the company has been able to grow its sales and are quite close to overall ebitda break even.
Zepto, co-founded by Palicha and fellow Stanford dropout Kaivalya Vohra in 2021, plans to expand into newer cities beyond the big metros like Coimbatore and Lucknow going ahead. The company also plans to take its dark store count to 700 from the current 370 by March 2025. It is already delivering in cities like Nashik, Gandhinagar, outskirts of Jaipur and Ahmedabad.