Zepto's 10-Minute Miracle: The Story Behind Lightning-Fast Grocery Delivery

The demand for smart applications is skyrocketing, transforming the way we live. Grocery shopping, a daily necessity, has gone digital. With just a few taps on your Android device, you can now have your daily essentials delivered right to your doorstep, eliminating the hassle of physical store visits. Convenience at its best, grocery apps bring the store to you, saving time and effort.Grocery delivery organizations such as Gorillas, JOKR, Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit and Zepto are engaged in a race to reduce delivery time within the competitive market. Among them however, Zepto has turned out to be an extraordinary platform that promises to deliver grocery items in just 10 minutes. Being among the first grocery platforms with a rich assortment of over 5000 products, Zepto’s app ensures that products are delivered right at your doorstep without any hitches whatsoever. As India’s first unicorn start-up of 2023, Zepto has had an amazing journey characterized by innovative founders, huge funding amounts, wise investors and a strong business model. In this article we will take a look at Zepto’s inspiring startup story where we shall delve into its growth patterns as well as challenges faced by this empire together with the driving forces behind its remarkable success.

About Zepto ?

ntroducing Zepto – the first grocery delivery startup in Mumbai that has promised to deliver in 10 minutes. Started by Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, it delivers your everyday necessities like a jet. Since its beginning, Zepto has recorded impressive achievements which include:

- 2021: 86 dark stores across 13 locations
- 1 million+ deliveries
- A workforce of over 1000 people
- Over 5000 products including fresh and essential daily food items
- Guaranteed delivery time of 10 minutes 

The secret ingredient of Zepto's soaring successes includes a variety of products offered, cutting edge technologies utilized alongside micro warehouses enhanced by cloud shops. This unique combination has resulted into quick expansions, customer retention as well as changed groceries section in India.

With speedy trading gaining popularity everywhere else, zepto leads in this sector,

Zepto - Industry

India's online grocery market is experiencing an unprecedented growth and all indications are that this trend will continue. According to IMARC Group, it achieved a worth of $6.8 billion in 2022 and is projected to attain $37.0 billion by 2028 registering an astonishing 31.3% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) during the period from 2023 to 2028. This tremendous expansion can be attributed to changing patterns of consumption, urbanization as well as advancements in internet technologies.

RedSeer forecasts a tenfold or fifteen-fold increase in the Indian quick commerce market by the year 2025 reaching US$5.5 billion, overtaking the adoption rate of China. With improving lifestyles combined with busy schedules, people are increasingly favoring online grocery platforms for convenience and personalization instead of conventional neighborhood shops.

The prohibitions imposed by COVID-19 pandemic on movement brought about faster rate of acceptance of online groceries due to social distance measures adopted globally. Nowadays customers regard ask for instant;

Zepto - Founders 

Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, both 19-year-old childhood pals, founded Zepto after walking out of Stanford University's renowned computer science department to return to their home country, India, and start up a business. The Zepto company began its operations in April 2021. Kaivalya Vohra Kaivalya Vohra is the CTO and Co-Founder of Zepto. He was also the founder and CTO of KiranaKart. He also attended Stanford University to pursue a degree in Computer Science, but like Aadit, he decided to leave the university. Kaivalya, along with Aadit, participated in Y Combinator as well. Aadit Palicha Aadit Palicha is the CEO and Co-Founder of Zepto. He was also the founder and CEO of KiranaKart. After completing an IB diploma from GEMS Education in Mathematics and Computer Science, Palicha then went for a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Stanford University, however, he quit the program in the middle to launch his firm. Aadit then completed Y Combinator Grade: W21 and started with PryvaSee as a Project Lead. Aadit Palicha then founded GoPool, his first startup, when he was just 17. He left the same in April 2020 and founded KiranaKart and then Zepto.

Zepto - Startup Story

at giving their customers a new shopping experience, thus providing options that would make the shopping user friendly and memorable. They decided to start on-demand delivery business named Zepto and also began developing their product range. 

In addition, they were able to raise more than $2 million in Series A funding from different investors such as Nexus Venture Partners, Y Combinator, and others in 2021. 

Thereafter, they chose to carry out a proper research regarding their target market before launching their services. They discovered that individuals are often quite busy with work and do not have time to wait for groceries or even order them online for major cities like Mumbai or Delhi.

“We conducted extensive market research which revealed that people have very demanding lives and therefore do not have the luxury of spending hours waiting for food deliveries or ordering groceries over the internet,” Vohra said.

Their findings skyrocketed into reality when they found out that there are few online grocery stores due to a limited workforce in India. As such, it remained hard to access grocery items within a day. This motivated Palicha and Vohra to seek instant pick and drop services by investing their own money in launching the project.

Zepto - Mission and Vision

Drawing from personal experience, Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, two bachelors living alone, identified the struggle to access food during the pandemic. This challenge inspired them to focus on grocery delivery solutions. Their first venture, KiranaKart, aimed to simplify grocery delivery for local Kiranas. However, with Zepto, they shifted focus to tackle a critical pain point: delivery time. Zepto's mission is to revolutionize grocery delivery with lightning-fast times, building upon the lessons learned from KiranaKart.

Zepto Revenue Model and business.

Zepto revolutionizes India's quick commerce landscape with its 10-minute grocery delivery promise, fulfilled through a network of dark storefronts and mini-warehouses, catering to up to 90% of orders. This customer-centric, instant-service model relies on strategic location intelligence and geographic data. Key components: - Average delivery time: 8 minutes, 47 seconds - Dark stores (tiny neighborhood storehouses) for digital purchases - Custom-designed warehouses and cool rooms for efficient order fulfillment - Hotspot method for optimized distribution Aadit Palicha, co-founder, notes that dark stores, though existing in India, remain underutilized. Zepto's innovative approach leverages: - Population dynamics - Traffic patterns - Topography - Road networks - Weather conditions - Last-mile operational efficiency - Real estate prices By integrating these factors, Zepto optimizes its connectivity, ensuring seamless delivery experiences.

Zepto - Funding and Investors

Zepto, India's leading quick commerce unicorn, secured $340 million in Series G funding on August 30, 2024, valuing the company at $5 billion. This investment follows the $665 million raised in June 2024, which valued Zepto at $3.6 billion.

To date, Zepto has raised $1.6 billion across nine funding rounds. The Series G round saw General Catalyst lead, with new investors Dragon Fund and Epiq Capital joining, and existing backers StepStone, Lightspeed, DST, and Contrary increasing their stakes.

Zepto's funding milestones:

- Series G (Aug 30, 2024): $340M, led by General Catalyst
- Series F (Jun 21, 2024): $665M, led by Glade Brook Capital Partners
- Series E (Aug 25, 2023): $200M, led by StepStone Group
- Series E (Nov 8, 2023): $31.3M, led by Goodwater Capital
- Series D (May 2, 2022): $200M, led by Y Combinator Continuity Fund
- Series C (Dec 20, 2021): $100M, led by Y Combinator Continuity Fund
- Series B (Oct 31, 2021): $60M, led by Glade Brook Capital Partners
- Series A (Mar 22, 2021): $6.5M, led by Nexus Venture Partners
- Pre-Seed Round (Sep 1, 2020): Led by Contrary

Zepto achieved unicorn status in August 2023, ending India's 11-month unicorn drought, demonstrating its remarkable growth potential in the quick commerce industry.