Zepto Startup Story – How a Teenager Built a Million Dollar Worth Company?

Zepto is one such company that has changed the game of the grocery delivery system in India. It delivers groceries to its customer within 10 minutes with the help of its various mini-warehouses and dark storefronts. The platform offers a wide range of products and customers can choose from more than 2500 available products. Zepto works hard on maintaining unmatchable client loyalty and delivering the product to their doorsteps within the stipulated time. It is one of the fastest-growing delivery businesses in India. So let us get into this article to read and know more about the startup journey of this amazing company.

Zepto – Key Highlights

• Company Name – Zepto
• Founding Year – 2021
• Founders – Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra
• Headquarters – Parel, Maharashtra, India
• Areas Served – India
• Company Type – For Profit
• Industry – Delivery, Grocery, and Delivery Service
• Total Funding - $360 M
• Valuation - $570 M
• Number of employees – 150 -200
• Website – www.zeptonow.com

Zepto – Founders and Team

The company got founded by two young people who were childhood pals and went to the same University as well. All the details of both the founders of the company are as follows:

• Aadit Palicha – He is the co-founder and CEO of the company. And it holds an IB diploma degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from GEMS Education and holds a bachelor's degree from Stanford University in Computer Science. He is also the co-founder of GoPool and KirananKart.
• Kaivalya Vohra – He is the other co-founder and CTO of the company. Vohra also holds a degree in Computer Science from Stanford University.

Zepto – Brand Name, Logo, and Tagline

• Brand Name – The brand name of the company denotes 10-21. This means minuscule time and this is exactly what the company’s business model denotes. They deliver groceries to their customers within 10 minutes which is very quick.
• Logo – The logo of the company is in striking reddish-pink colour. It is very attractive and perfect to leave a long-lasting impact on the minds of its customers.
• Tagline – The company's tagline is – Groceries delivered in 10 minutes.

Zepto – Business Model

Zepto delivers groceries to its customers within 10 minutes of placing the order through a system of mini-warehouses and dark storefronts. They work in the quick commerce segment that is built around the quick service model and designed to be user-centric.

The company's average delivery minute is 8.47 minutes. They have various hotspot methods that help them in catering to such a large number of digital purchases. Zepto optimizes various factors while delivering its products such as topography, road patterns, weather, real estate values, population, last-mile supply availability, traffic dynamics, etc.

Zepto – Revenue Model

Zepto follows the commission-based revenue model. It has partnered with various merchants and local shop owners for grocery delivery in the local areas. Zepto charges a certain percentage of commission from the merchants on these orders. The percentage of commission differs on the value of the order. The company also charges a delivery charge below the minimum order amount.

Zepto – Growth

Zepto has seen significant growth in the past few months. Some of the major growth factors of the company are as follows:

• The company is delivering in almost all Tier-I cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai.
• Zepto has a monthly growth rate of more than 200%.
• The company's monthly retention is over 78%.
• The company has raised almost double funding as compared to the last one of $60 M.
• They have renowned key executives from Flipkart, Amazon, Uber, Pharmeasy, Dream11, etc.
• Zepto is successfully adding more than 1,00,000 new customers to the platform every week.

Zepto – Funding, and Investors

Zepto has raised total funding of $360 M in over 4 rounds. All the details of the funding and investors of the company are as follows:

• Undisclosed Amount – Pre Seed Round, Contrary, Sep 1, 2020
• $60 M – Series A Round, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Oct 31, 2021
• $100 M – Series C Round, Y Combinator Continuity Fund, Dec 20, 2021
• $200 M – Series D Round, Y Combinator Continuity Fund, May 2, 2022

Zepto – Challenges

Zepto has faced some major challenges in its entrepreneurial journey. It was definitely not easy for them to sustain but the company survived and it is doing well. Some of the challenges faced by the company are as follows:

• Misunderstanding – It is very important to maintain trust, dignity, and honesty amongst the team members in any organization. Zepto had to face such a difficult situation when its founder and investors had several instances of impropriety amongst them. The things went to filing FIRs and going to the court to settle the disputes amongst them.
• Competitors – Zepto is fairly very new in the market but so are its competitors. Almost all the competitors of the company are new and they are in the initial stage as well. But still, some of those companies have a good customer base and they are performing well on several levels. Startups like Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, Dunzo, Big Basket, etc. also deliver groceries within a few minutes just like Zepto. Therefore, Zepto has to make smart moves to overshadow its competitors.

Zepto – Future Plans

Zepto is a baby company in the market and it still has a very long way to go. The company has tons of exciting plans for the future. Some of the significant plans of the company are as follows:

• Zepto will use the funding amount to increase the dark stores in various locations.
• It will focus on growing its customer base.
• The company is also focusing on hiring more employees as the company is growing fastly.
• They aim to continue their customer loyalty and increase their customer retention power.
• Zepto will soon start delivering in Tier-II cities as well.
• The company aims to open around 100 dark businesses by the end of FY 2023.
• They are focusing on minimizing their costs and cutting down their losses very soon.
• Zepto is also looking forward to doubling its valuation by the end of FY 2024.
• The company focuses on generating more revenue from its business.