Two teenage Stanford dropouts have made their startup worth half a billion in 7 months

• Quick grocery delivery app Zepto has raised $100 million in a Series C round.
• Zepto had earlier raised $60 million only 45 days ago, at a valuation of $225 million.
• It expanded its presence to Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurgaon, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune in the last two months.

Quick grocery delivery app Zepto — founded by two 19 year old Stanford dropouts only seven months ago — is now valued at $570 million by marquee investors of the Indian startup ecosystem.

Zepto was founded by Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, and it currently delivers 2,500 products in 10 minutes flat.

The company, on December 21, announced that it has raised $100 million in a Series C round led by Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund. New and existing investors, including Glade Brook, Nexus, Breyer Capital, Lachy Groom, Global Founders Capital, Contrary Capital and others.

Zepto had earlier raised $60 million only 45 days ago, at a valuation of $225 million.

The company claims to have expanded its presence from Mumbai to Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurgaon, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune in the last two months. The company is now looking to enter Kolkata.

Zepto’s valuation is now nearly double of Google-backed Dunzo, which is among the oldest players in the domain. The company was said to be valued at $300 million in March 2021, when the company raised $8 million.

Another competitor Swiggy, which started its InstaMart offering in 2020, has decided to invest $700 million in the domain and enable 5 minutes delivery.

Meanwhile, Grofers has decided to rebrand its entire billion dollar business to Blinkit in order to showcase its focus on 10 minute delivery. The company decided to shut down operations in 18 cities, and focus only on 12 cities for now.

“Investors are consistently choosing to back Zepto because of our best-in-class execution. This is giving us incredible momentum - we’re growing at a phenomenal rate, customers are loving the product experience, our core unit economics are strong, and we have one of the best startup teams in India today. Suffice it to say, I’m excited about what’s to come,” Aadit Palicha, cofounder and chief executive (CEO) of Zepto, said.

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