Indian Fast Trade Startup Zepto has unveiled plans for an initial public offering that could be valued at around $1 billion, making one of Y Combinator’s biggest bets outside the US on its way to the public markets.
THE archivingreleased on Monday, offers a rare look at how one of India’s most-watched startups plans to sustain its breakneck growth after going public. Zepto’s advertising revenue grew more than 151% year-on-year to ₹16.4 billion (about $171 million) in fiscal 2026, outpacing a 104% increase in the company’s operating income to ₹115.5 billion (about $2.4 billion).
While grocery deliveries remain Zepto’s core business, the faster growth of its advertising arm suggests a broader shift in how the startup makes money — a strategy pioneered by Amazon, turning its marketplace into one of the world’s largest profitable advertising businesses selling exposure to the same marketers that compete on its platform.
Founded in 2021 by Stanford dropouts Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, Zepto has grown into one of India’s fastest-growing startups, competing with Zomato’s Blinkit and Swiggy’s Instamart in the country’s hotly contested fast-casual market. Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart have also stepped up their efforts in the sector in recent months.
Despite intense competition, Zepto continued to add customers and orders at a rapid clip. The startup processed more than 640 million orders in fiscal 2026, according to the draft prospectus, nearly double from the previous year, while annual transacting users grew to nearly 48 million. Even as it expanded its network to 1,139 stores, orders per store continued to rise, suggesting that demand is growing alongside its footprint.
However, this growth comes at a cost. Zepto remains loss-making, reporting a net loss of ₹59.1 billion (about $617.36 million) in fiscal 2026, compared with ₹47.0 billion (about $492.45 million) a year earlier. The startup acknowledged in its filing that it may continue to incur losses and may not be able to sustain its historical growth rates, a typical but indicative disclosure that underscores the tension faced by venture-backed companies seeking public market investors before reaching profitability.
Zepto plans to raise up to ₹80.1 billion (about $837.41 million) through a new share issue. The IPO will also include an offer for sale of up to 113.5 million shares from existing investors, including Nexus Venture Partners, Contrary and Razor Ventures, with the final size of the sale dependent on the final pricing of the offering. The startup also said it may raise up to ₹16.02 billion (about $167 million) from investors in a pre-IPO placement.
The listing is set to deliver a closely watched outcome for some of Zepto’s early supporters. The startup was valued at $7 billion in its last funding round in October, and its investors include Y Combinator, Lachy Groom, Nexus Venture Partners, StepStone, Glade Brook and Lightspeed.
Several prominent shareholders — including Y Combinator-affiliated funds Lightspeed, StepStone, Groom and Glade Brook — are not participating in the IPO offering, opting to hold onto their stakes as the startup prepares for its market debut. It’s worth pausing: Zepto’s public market valuation remains uncertain, and some funds and family offices that looked at the company before the IPO have indicated valuations well below its last private round, according to people familiar with the matter.
Zepto’s founders, the filing revealed, received subpoenas from India’s anti-money laundering agency, the Enforcement Directorate, in April seeking information about foreign investments, the company’s share structure and other matters under the country’s foreign exchange laws.
The two then appeared before the agency and provided the requested information and documents. Zepto said it had not received any further communication from the regulator since then, but warned it could not rule out future inquiries, investigations or sanctions.
The proposed listing marks the culmination of a long-term effort to prepare the startup for a domestic market debut. Zepto moved its legal domicile from Singapore to India last year, joining a growing number of startups restructuring their portfolio companies as local public markets become increasingly attractive for tech listings.
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