Mumbai-based Zepto, an online grocery delivery start-up that was founded earlier this year by teenagers Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, has raised $60 million-worth funding in the early-stage round led by Glade Brook Capital, Nexus and Y Combinator. The funding also included participation from angel investors such as Lachy Groom, Neeraj Arora and Manik Gupta among others. Zepto promises grocery deliveries in 10 minutes (for up to 90% of orders) through its network of dark stores and micro warehouses.
It was during the lockdown of 2020 that, disheartened by the state of affairs in the online grocery delivery market, the duo decided to launch the brand. Zepto CEO Palicha says that even though the company has only announced the funding round now, it has already been operating with the capital raised in order to fund the launch of operations in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurugram.
The new-age delivery start-up claims that it makes the 10-minute delivery window possible through its dark stores and cold rooms that have been custom-designed to facilitate ease of navigation, allowing packers to move as quickly as possible to pack the items in an order. The company now hopes to expand to other cities as well.
