Zepto: What It Does, Who Runs It, Funding and News
Zepto is an Indian quick-commerce company that delivers groceries and other products in about 10 minutes from its own dark stores, 1,139 of them as of March 2026. Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra founded it; Palicha is CEO. A Y Combinator company from the Winter 2021 batch, it is based in Bengaluru and paused its planned IPO in August 2026.
Zepto runs a grocery delivery app in India that promises orders in about 10 minutes, filled from small neighborhood warehouses it calls dark stores. Y Combinator's company page lists Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra as its founders and places the company in YC's Winter 2021 batch. Aadit Palicha leads it as co-founder and CEO (TechCrunch, October 2025).
This page covers Zepto's key facts, what it sells, who runs it, the funding rounds reported since 2023, and its news from 2025 to 2026, including its IPO filing and the pause that followed, as of October 27, 2026.
Zepto key facts
Detail | Source | |
|---|---|---|
Legal name | Zepto Limited, formerly Kiranakart Technologies Pvt Ltd, renamed Zepto Pvt Ltd in 2025 and converted to a public limited company after a shareholder vote on November 21, 2025 | |
Founded | YC lists 2020; Zepto came out of stealth in late November 2021 | |
Founders | Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra | |
CEO | Aadit Palicha, co-founder | |
Headquarters | Bengaluru, Karnataka, India | |
Accelerator | Y Combinator, Winter 2021 | |
Dark stores | 1,139 on March 31, 2026 | |
Customers | 4.79 crore (about 47.9 million) annual transacting users in the year to March 2026 | |
Orders | 2.33 million a day in the quarter to March 2026 | |
Revenue, fiscal 2026 | ₹22,623.58 crore from operations, with a net loss of ₹5,905.19 crore (year to March 31, 2026) | |
People | YC lists a team of 1,300 (undated); the 2026 IPO filing says 48,011 dark-store workers were moved onto Zepto's payroll | |
Funding to date | Over $2.4 billion, per Inc42 in June 2026 | |
Public or private | Private; IPO approved by SEBI but paused in August 2026 | |
Website |
Sources give two founding dates. YC's page says 2020, while TechCrunch dates Zepto's public launch to late November 2021. Indian figures are given in crore and lakh: one crore is ten million, and one lakh is a hundred thousand.
What Zepto does
Zepto sells groceries through its app and delivers them from dark stores placed close to customers, in about 10 minutes, as its YC profile describes. The 2026 IPO filing says each dark store carries over 46,000 items (Groww, June 2026). Part of the business sits in a subsidiary, Zepto Marketplace Private Limited, which the IPO proceeds would fund for marketing (Business Today).
In October 2025 TechCrunch reported that Zepto ran over 1,000 stores in more than 80 Indian cities, with about 20% of orders coming from smaller cities. The same report described an app that had grown to include a Super Saver section, electronics, fashion and decor, and said Zepto Cafe, its food and coffee line, had been paused in 44 cities over staffing.
Zepto competes with Blinkit (owned by Eternal, formerly Zomato), Swiggy Instamart and Tata-owned BigBasket, and with the quick-delivery services of Flipkart and Amazon (TechCrunch).
Who runs Zepto
Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra co-founded Zepto after leaving Stanford University (TechCrunch, August 2023). Both are named as promoters in the 2026 IPO filing, alongside two trusts, Lazarus Trust and The Vohra Trust (Inc42, June 2026).
Name | Role | Source |
|---|---|---|
Aadit Palicha | Co-founder and CEO | |
Kaivalya Vohra | Co-founder; named CTO in August 2023 and June 2024 coverage |
Later coverage, such as Inc42's November 2024 report, names Kaivalya Vohra as a co-founder without a title (Inc42).
Who owns Zepto
Zepto is owned by its founders, two promoter trusts and its investors. The June 2026 filing put Lazarus Trust at 9.03%, The Vohra Trust at 7.48%, Aadit Palicha at 1.07% and Kaivalya Vohra at 0.89% (Inc42, June 2026). Indian shareholders held about 40% of the company in mid-2026, according to people familiar with the matter cited by 5paisa.
Zepto funding history
TechCrunch put Zepto's total funding at about $560 million in August 2023, before the larger rounds below; by June 2026 Inc42 put it at over $2.4 billion. Each round reported since 2023 appears below with the amount, date and lead investors its source gives.
Round | Date | Amount | Leads, valuation or source |
|---|---|---|---|
Series E | August 25, 2023 | $200 million | Led by StepStone Group, with Goodwater Capital, Nexus, Glade Brook Capital and Lachy Groom; $1.4 billion valuation, up from $900 million in May 2022 (TechCrunch) |
Series F | June 21, 2024 | $665 million | Co-led by Glade Brook, Nexus and StepStone; Avenir, Lightspeed and Avra joined; $3.6 billion valuation (Entrepreneur India) |
Follow-on | August 29, 2024 | $340 million | Led by General Catalyst; Dragon Fund and Epiq Capital joined; $5 billion valuation (Entrackr) |
Domestic round | November 22, 2024 | $350 million | Led by Motilal Oswal's private wealth division, raised only from Indian investors; valuation not stated by the company (Inc42) |
Growth round | October 16, 2025 | $400 million to $450 million (TechCrunch's report gives both) | Led by CalPERS, the California public pension fund, with Avenir, Avra, Lightspeed, Glade Brook, StepStone and Nexus; $7 billion valuation (TechCrunch) |
Pre-IPO private placement | Agreed August 2026 | Not disclosed by Zepto | Reports cited about ₹1,000 crore at around $4.5 billion, from unnamed sources (5paisa, Free Press Journal) |
Sources differ on the 2023 round: Entrepreneur India's June 2024 report describes the previous raise as $235 million at $1.4 billion, while TechCrunch reported $200 million in August 2023. TechCrunch's October 2025 headline and body also give different amounts.
Zepto IPO
Zepto filed for an IPO in India and then paused it. It filed draft papers with SEBI, India's securities regulator, through the confidential route in December 2025 (5paisa), and reports in May 2026 said SEBI had approved the plan (Groww, May 2026). On June 8, 2026 it filed an updated draft prospectus for a fresh issue of ₹8,010 crore plus an offer for sale of 113,466,566 shares by investors including Nexus, Contrary and Razor Ventures, with listing proposed on the NSE and BSE (Business Today, SEBI).
On August 1, 2026 Zepto confirmed it had paused the listing and said it intends to list within the time SEBI allows for its approved filing (Inc42). The company also said it had no debt at the end of fiscal 2026, on March 31 (Free Press Journal).
Recent Zepto news
- June 4, 2025: India's Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) sends Zepto Marketplace a notice over pricing practices; the matter was pending in June 2026 (MediaNama).
- October 16, 2025: Zepto raises its CalPERS-led round at a $7 billion valuation (TechCrunch).
- November 21, 2025: Shareholders approve converting Zepto into a public limited company (Inc42).
- December 4, 2025: The CCPA orders Zepto Marketplace to stop "basket sneaking" and "drip pricing" and pay a ₹7 lakh penalty; an appeals body stayed the order on January 20, 2026 (MediaNama).
- April 8, 2026: India's Enforcement Directorate summons both co-founders under the Foreign Exchange Management Act over the company's foreign investments and related records, as disclosed in the IPO filing, which called the matter ongoing (Business Today).
- June 8, 2026: Zepto files its updated draft prospectus, reporting fiscal 2026 revenue of ₹22,623.58 crore (Business Today).
- August 1, 2026: Zepto pauses its IPO and its shareholders approve a pre-IPO private placement (Inc42).
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Get MerlinFrequently asked questions
Who founded Zepto?
Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra founded Zepto. YC lists the company as founded in 2020, and Zepto came out of stealth in late 2021.
Who is the CEO of Zepto?
Aadit Palicha, a co-founder, is Zepto's CEO, as reported by TechCrunch in October 2025.
Is Zepto a public company?
No. Zepto Limited is a public limited company under Indian law, but its shares were not listed as of October 2026. It filed for an IPO in June 2026 and paused it in August 2026.
How much is Zepto worth?
Zepto's last announced round, in October 2025, valued it at $7 billion. Reports in July 2026 said a pre-IPO round would value it around $4.5 billion; Zepto has not confirmed a figure.
Where is Zepto headquartered?
Zepto is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, according to June 2026 coverage of its IPO filing.