Zepto appoints Ankit Agarwal as chief product officer to drive innovation in fulfilment

• Zepto elevates Ankit Agarwal as CPO to improve customer experience and drive innovation across categories.
• Zepto’s new CPO has also been a founder in the past, with Orinko, trying to build India’s first ever fruits and vegetables consumer brand.
• Zepto turned the first unicorn of 2023 with a valuation of $1.4 bn last month and is working towards a public listing over the next 12-18 months.
  

Quick commerce player Zepto on Monday announced the elevation of Ankit Agarwal as the company’s Chief Product Officer. A major part of Zepto’s journey ahead will be driven by innovation in product and technology. Ankit Agarwal, CPO, Zepto, explains, “We're not following trends; we're setting them. I'm excited to be part of that team that is revolutionising commerce in India.”

Kaivalya Vohra, Co-founder and CTO, Zepto, said, “Ankit joined us about a year ago and in that time he has built strong rigour within the fulfilment charter. We've been able to ship world class technology over the last year; everything from building our entire last mile stack in-house to building and rolling out a warehouse management system in <6 months, and many other needle-moving initiatives.”

With 13+ years of product experience in companies such as Flipkart, Delhivery and Infra.Market, Ankit joined Zepto in August 2022 as SVP of Product to lead the entire fulfilment charter, spanning the entirety of supply chain, last mile and finance tech. Ankit has also been a founder in the past, with Orinko, trying to build India’s first ever fruits and vegetables consumer brand. With Ankit’s elevation, he will now own product end-to-end, from consumer to supply chain and last mile.

The quick commerce player has its job cut out after it became a unicorn last month. Zepto is India’s 84th unicorn with its latest fundraise. India had 83 unicorns at the start of the year but several startups have lost that tag with down rounds and cuts in valuation. The quick commerce player, started by two teenagers two years ago, has raised $200 million through a Series E round at a valuation of $1.4 billion. The latest round is entirely primary. The agenda is to build a good capital base ahead of a potential listing in 2025.

With this round, the startup has brought on board a bunch of new investors. This round was led by StepStone Group and this investment into Zepto is their first direct investment in an Indian company). Additionally, Goodwater Capital, a consumer-focused venture capital firm based in California, joined the round as a new investor. Notably, existing investors, like Nexus Venture Partners, Glade Brook Capital, Lachy Groom and more, doubled down on their investments in Zepto with meaningful follow-on investments.