Zepto can become bigger than DMart in 18-24 months: Aadit Palicha

Aadit Palicha

Quick commerce unicorn Zepto could surpass offline retail major DMart in sales in the next 18-24 months, Zepto co-founder and CEO Aadit Palicha said in Delhi on July 6.

"DMart is a $30 billion company and they are only 4.5X our size in sales. If we continue to execute well, we will continue to grow 2-3X every year. And potentially surpass them in next 18-24 months which is an exceptionally well executed consumer company," said Palicha.

He said that Zepto would focus on the top 50-75 million households in the country's top 40 cities as they make up the lion's share of grocery and daily essential purchases of the country. According to Palicha, the Indian grocery market would be worth $850 billion by FY29, of which these top bracket households would account for $400 billion.

"Grocery is bigger than all the categories that Amazon and Flipkart service. We are building the mother of all categories... We have had a crazy journey in the past 3 years. We have gone from zero to Rs 10,000 crore (in sales) in less than 3 years. It is the fastest company in Internet India to do that. Flipkart did it in 4 years. We did it in 2.5 years," said Palicha while speaking at the JIIF Foundation Day event in the national capital.

"We think of ourselves as a hyperlocal Walmart. That us what has helped us to scale and to the point of profitability we have gotten to," he added.

Zepto has been on a fundraising blitzkrieg.

It just raised $665 million at a valuation of $3.6 billion valuation, as investors look to double down on the booming quick commerce sector in India. Last year in August, it had raised $231 million at a valuation of $1.4 billion.

Further, it has drawn investor interest for an additional $250 million in a fresh round that values the company at about $4.6 billion. The round, which could touch $400 million in size, could see private equity majors like General Catalyst and KKR joining the company's cap table.

Zepto will use the money to enter new markets like Jaipur, Chandigarh, and Ahmedabad among others, while also increasing penetration in existing cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru.

The company expects to double its dark store count from 350 now to over 700 by March 2025.

The expansion plans are in line with the strategy other companies are following, too. Zomato-owned Blinkit, the market leader, said it will open 1,000 stores by March 2025.

Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, Zepto, and Tata’s BigBasket (BB Now) are all top players in the space.

Founded in 2021 by Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, Zepto takes 5.5 lakh orders a day through a network of 350 dark stores across seven cities in India, the company's management had told Goldman Sachs in April. It has a take rate of 23 percent, analysts at the brokerage said.

For context, Blinkit, the number one quick commerce player, delivered over 7 lakh orders each day and had 526 dark stores during the January-March period, filings showed. Blinkit had a take rate of around 19 percent.