Zepto scores 200 Mn Series D round at $900 Mn valuation

Ten-minute grocery delivery platform Zepto has raised $200 million from its previous round lead investor Y Combinator Continuity along with new investor Kaiser Permanente. Other existing backers: Nexus Ventures, Glade Brook and Lachy Groom also joined the Series D round.

The nine-month-old company has missed the unicorn status by $100 million as it has been valued at $900 million (post-money). The startup has raised $360 million to date. Entrackr had exclusively reported about Zepto's larger round in December.

With $200 million fundraise, Zepto could have gone past the $1 billion valuation mark easily from $570 million in the previous round. It has turned out to be the third startup to fall short of a $1 billion valuation after Turtlemint and bike taxi cum logistics platform Rapido.

The proceeds will help the Mumbai-based company to fight competition namely Swiggy Instamart, Dunzo and Zomato-backed BlinkIt. While the three companies have been burning money incessantly to grab more market share, the company’s co-founder and chief executive Aadit Palicha claimed that its burn has come down 5X on a per-order basis.

“We posted 800% Q-o-Q revenue growth,” said Palicha in a press statement without giving any further details.

Besides grocery and fresh produce, Zepto is also delivering instant cafe items such as coffee, chai and bakery products.

Here and now grocery delivery space has turned into a battlefield for deep-pocketed unicorns. Swiggy had announced to invest $700 million in its quick grocery play: Swiggy Instamart while Zomato is likely to acquire and invest more money in BlinkIt.

The concept of the 10-minute grocery delivery startups has picked up pace in the US and West in the post-pandemic era. Philadelphia-based ten-minute grocery platform GoPuff raised $1 billion at a valuation of $15 billion.