'Ready to make Zepto $50B Indian company': Co-founder Aadit Palicha after $3.6B tag

Zepto co-founder said the company could achieve $3.6B valuation only because it is based in India.

After online grocery delivery app Zepto raised $665 million at a valuation of $3.6 billion valuation, its co-founder Aadit Palicha took to social media to reflect on their journey in the three years since launching the company. Palicha, who dropped out of college during the pandemic to start Zepto, said that they are ready to turn it into a $5 billion company.

"Reflecting on the past three years of building Zepto: the story of two kids dropping out of college and starting a company that is worth Rs 30,000 crore in just 3 years is only possible in one country in 2024: India," he wrote on X. "We are ready to dedicate ourselves to building Zepto into a world-class $50B Indian company that employs lakhs -- as a way to give back to this country that has given us so much."

Reflecting on the past 3 years of building Zepto: the story of 2 kids dropping out of college and starting a company that is worth 30,000 Crores in just 3 years is only possible in one country in 2024: India

We are ready to dedicate ourselves to building Zepto into a… pic.twitter.com/aQGq5xGu0r — Aadit Palicha (@aadit_palicha) June 22, 2024

Moneycontrol was first to report on June 13 that Zepto was stitching together a round as large as $650 million at a valuation of $3.5 billion.

The fresh $665 million fundraise, a complete primary round, was co-led by existing backers like Glade Brook, Nexus, and StepStone who put in a majority of the amount of the capital. New investors like Avenir Growth, Lightspeed, Avra and others put in the remaining amount to join the company’s cap table.

Sources also told Moneycontrol that DST Global, an early backer of rival Swiggy, was the single largest new investor in the company, putting in around $100 million.

Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra were 19-year-old college students when they founded Zepto. They dropped out of a Computer Science course from Stanford to launch a start-up in the middle of the pandemic.

The duo grew up in Dubai and used to visit Mumbai at least twice a year to visit their grandparents. Hailing from families that had a background in business, they decided to start a venture early on.