Zepto, the Mumbai-based quick commerce start-up has secured $340 million in a follow-on funding round led by General Catalyst, taking the company's valuation to $5 billion.
The funding round saw the arrival of new investors such as Dragon Fund, Mars Growth Capital and Epiq Capital. The round which also saw the participation of existing investors such as StepStone, Ligthspeed, DST, and Contrary, saw increased their stakes in the company.
“The rationale behind this follow-on financing was twofold,” said Aadit Palicha, Co-founder and CEO at Zepto.
"First, the opportunity to bring on board a lead investor of Neeraj Arora’s calibre from General Catalyst was one we couldn't pass on. Second, strengthening our balance sheet is a strategic move, particularly as the company continues to deliver robust growth and operating leverage", he further added.
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Neeraj Arora, Managing Director of General Catalyst said, “I’ve known Aadit and Kaivalya for several years, and they are truly exceptional founders who turned their bold mission to modernise India’s grocery sector into a category-defining company. This is just the beginning of their journey,”
Ridhi Chaudhary, Chief Investment Officer, Dragon Fund, said, “Dragon Fund’s vision is to back world-class technology companies globally. We are very excited to partner with Zepto and its exceptional team who are defining and building quick commerce in India,”
Epiq Capital was founded by Rishi Navani in 2016 to invest in the next Nifty50 technology companies.
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Mars Growth is a Singapore-based private equity firm, co-run by Mitsubishi UFJ financial group of Japan.
Israel Liquidity Group, invested in Zepto through its equity fund, Dragon Fund.
The latest funding would see Zepto's funding value in the past two months go to $1 billion.
Zepto on August 12 finalised a $300 million funding which saw Mars Growth participating in the round.
In a year, Zepto has seen humongous growth and its value has grown 3.5 times, because of the growth of quick commerce and infusion of capital in the sector.
The quick commerce firm turned into a unicorn in August 2023, after having raised $200 million after which it was valued at $1.4 billion.
Zepto, currently has a network of 370 dark stores. It aims to grow the count to about 700 by March 2025 strengthening its presence in the top 20 citie.
The development comes at a time when many e-commerce are turning their attention towards quick commerce vertical to tap its market potential.
Tata-owned BigBasket, the e-grocery dealer, recently announced that it would turn into a fully-fledged quick commerce firm.
Similarly, Amazon has also announced its concrete plans to foray into the quick commerce sector and is reported to have concrete plans in place, which need approval from its headquarters.
Flipkart, Amazon's rival also entered into the quick commerce sphere with the launch of its 'Minutes'.
