19-Year Old Stanford Dropouts From Mumbai Raises $60 Million| Decided To Opt For Dreams Over Dream-University

Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra (CEO & Co-founder, Zepto) got admission into Computer Science, a prestigious program at Stanford University back in 2020. However, they had a bigger dream! Having declined the offer, they founded the Zepto app, claiming to provide a 10-minute grocery delivery.

Amidst the pandemic, delivery services bloomed due to the restrictions on human interactions. Cashing in on the opportunity, Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra decided to provide delivery of groceries at the doorsteps, one of our daily necessities. 

Everyone likes fresh groceries and providing them within 10-minutes is indeed icing on the cake. Groceries such as ‘Aalo, pyaz, dhaniya’ (Potatoes, onions, and coriander) and many more essentials are delivered right at your doorsteps. Taking advantage of the ‘micro-warehouses’ & optimized cloud network, Zepto delivers fresh groceries within the stipulated time. Mr. Plalicha explains that these “dark stores” (micro-warehouses) are designed for quick & optimized deliveries. The tally stands at 40 dark stores as of now. However, the venture has decided to increase the number of dark stores to 100 by early next year. 

What is Zepto?

Zepto was founded earlier this year (2021) and has been operational since April 2021. Within months of the launch, the startup has gained a net worth of $200 million to $300 million after achieving $60 million in an initial funding round. The venture has been funded by investors such as Nexus, Y Combinator, Global Founders Capital, along with angel investors Lachy Groom, Neeraj Arora, and Manik Gupta. 

“The way we are growing right now, and the current penetration and frequency of usage we are seeing, the opportunity is just massive,” Mr. Plaicha said in an interview. 

One thing that stands out for Zepto is their 10 minutes assured delivery. Averaging at around 8 minutes 40 seconds, Kaivalya Vohra states that, “If the promise is 10 minutes, our customer gets a call in the 9th minute”. 

Coming up with the idea of Zepto

As of now, the venture delivers in Delhi, Chennai, Gurgaon, Bangalore & Mumbai. They have planned to grow their business in cities such as Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai.

Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra explained that the idea of Zepto popped into their minds while they were evaluating their requirements. “We just had been exposed to the entrepreneurial and tech startup world in a deep way. Now we were in Mumbai and, the biggest problem for the two of us bachelors was securing groceries and essentials,” the duo mentioned. This proves that you can get inspired by anything around you. You just need to have an open mind and a positive attitude. 

“There is significant room for driving higher penetration in existing cities with high traffic, increase in conversion, and retention. Adoption of online grocery has increased with engagement level and order volumes accelerating. DAU (daily active users) has seen strong growth for many e-grocery apps during lockdowns. Downloads have increased recently. Online grocery has demand-side advantages of 24/7 shopping, wide SKU ranges, same day/next.” said the duo. 

Indeed the future for quick-commerce is bright, but it is over-crowded. The venture might face intense competition from rivals such as ‘BigBasket, Grofers (backed by SoftBank Group Corp), Dunzo (Backed by Google), etc.’ Considering the market potential, many new startups can make things even more competitive.

“Q-Commerce in India is an opportunity of epic proportions. We’ve been ignoring the noise and executing heads down for a long time to perfect this model, and our efforts are paying off. Today, we’re consistently growing 200% every month with an unstoppable team, robust product infrastructure, and deep access to institutional capital. If two 19-year-olds don’t have the stamina to conquer this, who does?” said Mr. Palicha, CEO Zepto.

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