India gets its 1st unicorn of 2023 in Zepto; valued at $1.4 billion after $200mn funding round

Ending the unicorn drought in India amid the continued funding winter, on-line grocery firm Zepto on Friday introduced it has raised $200 million in its Series E round, valuing the corporate at $1.4 billion.

The fundraise introduced in new traders, with the StepStone Group main the round.

US-based Goodwater Capital joined the round as a brand new investor. Existing traders like Nexus Venture Partners, Glade Brook Capital, Lachy Groom and extra, doubled down in Zepto with significant follow-on investments.

Founded in July 2021, Zepto stated it plans to go public in the subsequent 2-3 years.

“This enterprise is about execution and we’re succeeding as a result of our execution is powerful. We are in this to construct a generational firm and it actually appears like that is only the start,” stated Aadit Palicha, Co-founder and CEO of Zepto.

This fundraise in the center of the deepest downturn in capital markets in over a decade validates Zepto’s working self-discipline.

Zepto’s burn has diminished considerably and with this, the corporate will probably be absolutely EBITDA optimistic in 12 to fifteen months.

The firm has grown its gross sales by 300 per cent (year-on-year) and can seemingly obtain $1 billion in annualised gross sales inside the subsequent few quarters.

“Even with this capital, we wish to keep our self-discipline, keep away from complacency, and push onerous to hit EBITDA positivity,” stated Kaivalya Vohra, Co-founder and CTO.

Headquartered in Mumbai, Zepto delivers greater than 6,000 grocery merchandise in 10 minutes by a community of supply hubs throughout the nation.

Meanwhile, India didn’t see any new unicorn in the primary half of 2023 as startup funding plunged greater than 70 per cent in the January-June interval from a 12 months in the past.

The first six months witnessed Indian startups elevate simply $5.48 billion, from $19.5 billion they raised throughout the identical interval final 12 months, in keeping with information by market intelligence agency Tracxn.

(With inputs from IANS)