Zepto likely to raise up to $150 million from Motilal Oswal, others in third funding round in 4 months

Zepto co-founders Aadit Palicha (L), and Kaivalya Vohra (R)

Quick commerce company Zepto is in talks to raise $100-150 million from Motilal Oswal, Indian family offices and other high networth individuals (HNIs), people aware of the development have told Moneycontrol.

The increased investor interest comes at a time when rapid delivery startups are disrupting traditional majors such as DMart and growing at an exponential pace.

“Motilal Oswal is itself investing around $40 million and is facilitating another $60-$110 million from Indian family offices and other HNIs. The round can be anywhere between $100 and $150 million in size, it’s too early to predict,” one of the persons told Moneycontrol.

Of the $40 million, Raamdeo Agrawal, chairman and co-founder of Motilal Oswal, will put in around $15 million in his personal capacity and increase his stake in the company, sources said. Agrawal is already an investor in the company.

Talks have been on for around three months and are expected to materialise soon. Zepto’s valuation will remain unchanged at $5 billion in the round. The idea is to increase the domestic ownership ahead of the IPO, sources said.

The initial public offering (IPO) work is already underway. The company has picked Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Axis Capital and is in the process of finalising more investment bankers for the offer, as first reported by Moneycontrol on September 7.

Motilal Oswal and Zepto did not immediately respond to Moneycontrol’s queries. The story will be updated when they reply.

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If the talks between Motilal and Zepto go through, this will be Zepto’s third large ticket fundraise in less than four months as the company readies a cash chest to compete with listed giants such as Zomato’s Blinkit, IPO-bound Swiggy and other peers such as Walmart’s Flipkart Minutes, Tata’s BigBasket and more.

Zepto had raised $665 million at a valuation of $3.6 billion in June and then scooped up another $340 million at a $5 billion valuation a few weeks later in August, as first reported by Moneycontrol. In total, of the $1.6 billion that three-year old Zepto has raised so far, over $1 billion has come only in the last four months.