Instant grocery delivery startup Zepto is set to raise approximately $650 million from both existing and new investors, reaching a valuation of $3.5 billion. This highlights the significant interest in India’s booming quick commerce sector, according to sources cited by the sources.
The current investors include StepStone Group, Nexus Venture Partners, and Glade Brook Capital. New investors joining this round are Avenir Growth, Lightspeed Venture Partners, DST Global, and Avra. This fresh round will more than double Zepto’s valuation from $1.4 billion to $3.5 billion, indicating strong investor confidence in the company’s growth potential in the quick commerce segment. This substantial funding comes despite a challenging funding environment for late-stage companies in India since late 2022.
This marks Zepto’s second major fundraising effort within a year. The Y Combinator-backed startup previously raised $231 million in August 2023 from StepStone Group, Goodwater Capital, and other investors at a valuation of $1.4 billion.
Zepto competes with larger players like Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Tata’s BigBasket (BB Now), all striving to dominate the quick commerce space. Blinkit, based in Gurugram, currently leads the market with a share of about 40-45%, according to several estimates. As the only pure-play quick commerce company among these competitors, Zepto needs to accelerate its growth, supported by substantial capital. Unlike Zepto, Zomato and Swiggy benefit from their thriving food delivery businesses, and BigBasket is backed by the Tata group.
“Nexus and its limited partner StepStone will lead this round by contributing the majority of the $650 million,” one source told Moneycontrol. The second source explained that Nexus is making a significant investment in Zepto, highlighting the venture capital firm’s strong belief in Zepto’s potential.
Read More: Click Here
