Zepto Gets SEBI Approval for $1.3 Billion IPO

​

Zepto has received in-principle approval from SEBI for its ₹11,000 crore ($1.3 billion) IPO, clearing the single biggest regulatory hurdle before a public listing.

​

The approval came via the confidential filing route using the same mechanism used by Swiggy, Groww, and Meesho before their respective listings which means Zepto filed its draft prospectus privately in December 2025 and received SEBI's feedback without making its financials public from the outset.

​

Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra started Zepto in 2021, initially as KiranaKart a kirana-partnership grocery model. The pivot to dark stores changed everything. The company raised money at a pace that reflected how quickly the Indian quick commerce market was being defined.

• From a $1.4 billion unicorn valuation in August 2023, it rose to a $3.6 billion valuation in June 2024, then $5 billion by November 2024, and finally $7 billion after a $450 million round in October 2025. Total capital raised stands at over $2.3 billion to date.
  

One structural step that doesn't get enough credit in most IPO coverage: Zepto completed its reverse flip from Singapore to India in January 2025. The company was originally incorporated in Singapore, with the Indian entity as a subsidiary. The NCLT approved Kiranakart Technologies, the Indian entity, to become the holding company of Zepto a prerequisite for any domestic public listing. CEO Aadit Palicha called it a historic milestone. CFO Ramesh Bafna called it "GharWapasi for the startup ecosystem." The substance behind the symbolism: this involved NCLT and Singapore court approval, a significant tax outlay whose exact amount hasn't been disclosed, and months of legal complexity. Completing it in what both founders called the "fastest-ever timeline" was genuinely an execution achievement.

Financials:

​

• Revenue for FY25 (year ended March 2025): ₹11,110 crore, up 149% year-on-year from ₹4,454 crore in FY24. That is genuinely one of the fastest revenue growth rates posted by any consumer internet company in India at this scale.
  
  
• Net loss for FY25: ₹3,367.3 crore, expanding 177% year-on-year from ₹1,214.7 crore in FY24.

The math here requires attention. Revenue grew 149%. Losses grew 177%. In FY24, Zepto was spending ₹1.29 to earn every ₹1 in revenue. That ratio has reportedly improved in FY25 with better unit economics, higher fill rates, and stronger contribution margins. But absolute losses still widened dramatically, because the company was simultaneously scaling up from 650 to 1,150+ dark stores and entering dozens of new cities, a spend cycle that shows up in losses before it shows up in revenue.

On unit economics the per-order profitability picture that actually tells you whether the business model works, Zepto reports meaningful improvement.  Average order value (AOV) is approximately ₹550. Gross margin per order is ₹50–70. Fulfilment cost per order is ₹35–45. That means a thin but positive contribution per order before fixed costs like dark store rent, technology, and marketing. Zepto has also stated that 75% of its dark stores are already EBITDA positive at the store level, and that new stores now reach breakeven in approximately 8–9 months, down from 23 months when the network was less dense. Management is targeting EBITDA breakeven at the company level within 12–15 months of the IPO.

• Zepto's annualised advertising revenue has crossed ₹1,000 crore. This is the retail media business where brands pay for sponsored listings and placements inside the Zepto app and it carries far higher margins than grocery sales. Second, Zepto Cafe, its freshly prepared food vertical, was nearing $100 million in GMV run-rate with approximately 50% gross margins.

For context, grocery and FMCG margins typically run at 10–20%. Cafe margins at 50% represent a structurally different business sitting inside the same app. Zepto Pass, its ₹99/month subscription, had over 40 lakh subscribers contributing approximately ₹480 crore annually in FY25.