Mumbai-based quick commerce company Zepto has secured $450 million in fresh funding led by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), one of the world’s largest pension funds, valuing the startup at $7 billion. The round includes both primary and secondary components. Existing investors Avenir, Avra, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Glade Brook Capital, StepStone Group, and Nexus Venture Partners participated in the round, most of which consisted of new primary capital. According to CEO and co-founder Aadit Palicha, the company now holds approximately $900 million in cash reserves
With the fresh infusion of capital, the firm’s valuation has climbed 40% from the $5 billion benchmark it reached in its 2024 fundraising, a period during which several competitors scaled back expansion to curb losses.
Founded in 2020 by Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, both Stanford dropouts, Zepto has grown from a Mumbai-based grocery delivery service into a nationwide network of more than 1,000 dark stores across 12 Indian cities. The company’s 10-minute delivery model — once dismissed as a cash-burning experiment — has now become a core part of India’s online grocery and hyperlocal retail economy. Though the model still remains largely cash guzzling, as seen from the recent impact on Zepto-rival BlinkIt’s balance sheet.
Zepto reported a sharp increase in revenue for the fiscal year 2025, reaching ₹11,109 crore ($1.33 billion), up from ₹4,454 crore in the preceding year. Operational metrics confirm this growth trajectory, with daily transaction volumes currently averaging between 1.6 and 1.7 million, having more than tripled since mid-2024. “Even as we scaled 250 percent over the past five quarters, hundreds of our stores have turned profitable,” Palicha commented on the matter. “That operational foundation is what has given long-term investors the confidence to back us at this scale.”
The participation of CalPERS marks a watershed moment for the Indian consumer internet ecosystem, as it is the first time a major U.S. pension fund has taken a lead position in this specific sector. It remains to be seen whether this is a definitive signal that Indian digital platforms are maturing to the point of attracting the same caliber of stable, long-horizon global institutional capital traditionally reserved for established U.S. tech leaders. It also reflects a gradual rebalancing of Zepto’s cap table toward domestic and institutional ownership. In recent months, the startup has conducted structured debt negotiations with Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors and several Indian family offices, aimed at enabling founders and local investors to acquire stakes from early foreign backers.
Palicha has confirmed that the financing serves as a “pre-IPO round” and Zepto intends to pursue a public listing within the next 12 to 18 months. The company is reportedly working with a consortium of domestic and international banks, exploring a potential dual listing on both Indian and U.S. exchanges. This successful capital raise occurs amidst an intensely competitive $7-billion quick commerce market. Zepto competes directly against rivals such as Swiggy Instamart, Zomato’s Blinkit, and Tata’s BigBasket, as well as nascent rapid-delivery verticals launched by e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart. While Blinkit maintains the lead in overall order volume, Zepto’s new capital infusion is expected to empower an aggressive store expansion strategy targeting India’s underserved tier-2 cities.
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