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Zepto co-founder alleges smear campaign by rival

What they do

Zepto delivers groceries and essentials in minutes from dark stores across India

Co-founder Aadit Palicha accused a rival quick commerce CFO of orchestrating a smear campaign with false information and paid bots

Zepto reported monthly gross order value of Rs 2,400 crore and said it is nearing breakeven

Zepto co-founder Aadit Palicha alleged that a rival quick commerce CFO is orchestrating a smear campaign against Zepto.
The rival CFO is said to be sharing false information and fake Excel sheets with investors and media through proxy sources.
Palicha claimed the campaign uses paid bots to amplify negative narratives online.
He did not name the rival CFO but called the allegations 'wild' and without empirical evidence.
Separately, some brand partners reported Zepto auto-activating ad campaigns without their consent.
Zepto said such auto-activations affected less than 0.1% of total ad activations and were within pre-approved budgets.
The company also announced it has postponed its IPO by about a year and now aims to list in calendar year 2026.

The quick commerce sector has grown rapidly, with over two-thirds of all e-retail orders in 2024 and a market size of $6-7 billion.
The quick commerce sector was worth $6–7 billion in 2024, up about five times from 2022, according to a Bain & Flipkart report.
Eternal CEO Deepinder Goyal claimed quick commerce players burn Rs 5,000 crore per quarter, with Zepto accounting for more than half.
Palicha dismissed Goyal's claims as 'verifiably untrue' and shared Zepto's improving financial metrics.

Zepto delivers groceries, fruits, vegetables and other essentials in 10-20 minutes from nearly 1,000 dark stores across India.
It also operates Zepto Cafe, competing in food and beverages against Zomato and Swiggy.
The company generates revenue from product sales and advertising from brand partners.
It claims to have best-in-class payment systems, vendor audits and a clean statutory audit record with Big Four firms.
Employee costs are about Rs 100 crore per month, with salaries 2-3 times the industry average to attract top talent.
The company launched Zepto Atom, a subscription-based analytics platform for brand partners with real-time data and pin code-level market share.

Zepto expects majority of dark stores to be Ebdita-positive by next quarter.
It aims to achieve company-level Ebdita and operating cash flow nearing breakeven soon.
The company is ramping up dark store launches and not planning large-scale store rationalisation.
Zepto has postponed its IPO and now plans to list in calendar year 2026.

Product: A rapid-delivery app for groceries and everyday essentials.
Customers: Consumers ordering groceries and essentials online.
How it makes money: It earns from product margins, delivery fees, and order-value thresholds across its quick-commerce network.
What sets it apart: It was built as a quick-commerce native company from day one.
Operations: Operates dark-store based 10-minute delivery across multiple Indian cities.