Zepto’s FY24 revenue doubles to ₹4,454 crore in its first year as unicorn | Company Business News

Quick grocery delivery startup Zepto saw its operating revenue more than double year-on-year to ₹4,454 crore in the financial year ended March 2024—its first year as a unicorn—highlighting the intensifying competition in the quick commerce space.

The Bengaluru-based firm’s loss for the period remained flat at ₹1,248 crore, against ₹ 1,272 crore in the year-ago period, weighed by a nearly 65% increase in its total expenses at ₹5,747 crore, according to filings made with the ministry of corporate affairs accessed by business intelligence platform Tofler.

Zepto joined the coveted unicorn club with a valuation of $1.4 billion in August 2023 after raising $200 million in a Series E round led by US private market investor StepStone Group, lifting hopes for India’s startup ecosystem that was at the time undergoing a prolonged funding winter.

To be sure, Zepto’s business model is different to Instamart’s and Blinkit’s, which are marketplaces. Zepto holds the inventory on its books. Typically, about 81-82% of GOV would be Zepto’s revenue—this is net of maximum retail price (MRP) discounting and goods and sales tax, according to Palicha.

IPO in 2025

Founded in 2021 by Stanford University dropouts Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, Zepto is eyeing a multi-million-dollar public-market listing next year. It is also well on its way to touch annualized sales of $3 billion in the next month or two, Palicha, the company’s co-founder and chief executive, told Mint last month, underscoring the firm’s potential for rapid growth that has attracted investors from around the world.

Moreover, Zepto’s 300-strong dark stores are turning profitable at a faster pace as the firm is adding newer categories with a higher average order value, which is adding to its bottom line.

“Right now, is not the time to slow down,” Palicha had said last month.

The Mumbai-based company has raced its way to bag some of the biggest funding rounds so far this year. It is reshaping India’s e-commerce sector, forcing giants like Walmart-backed Flipkart and Tata’s BigBasket to venture into instant deliveries.

Quick commerce market

India’s quick-commerce market grew 77% in 2023 to reach $2.8 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV), accounting for 5% of India’s overall e-commerce market, according to consulting firm Redseer. GMV, a key metric in e-commerce, tracks the total value of all the goods sold on a platform, not including discounts and other expenses.

Over the past few months, Zepto, Blinkit and Swiggy’s Instamart have fuelled demand for instant deliveries, growing their network of dark stores and expanding their range of products. Zepto said it plans to use the capital to double the number of its dark stores, or warehouses, to 700 by March 2025.

Blinkit, which Zomato acquired in June 2022, commands a 40% share of India’s quick-commerce market, according to an HSBC Global Research report in April. Zepto has steadily increased its share to 28% at the cost of Swiggy Instamart over the past two years, it said.