Zepto makes haste slowly on the quick commerce route

THE NAME ZEPTO is derived from the shortest unit of measurable time in Physics.

- ANEES HUSSAIN

But the creators of that name-two 20-yearold Stanford University dropouts - seem to be defying physics for the time being.

The quick commerce player, which started operations just two-and-a-half years ago after morphing from its previous avatars, is present across seven cities, operates around 240 dark stores, maintains over 6,690 stock keeping units and has doubled its daily delivery capacity to 350,000 orders in just over a year. The icing on the cake, of course, came last month when it raised $200 million at a valuation of $1.4 billion, thereby ending an 11-month unicorn drought in India. That's not all -- Zepto is planning another funding round ahead of its planned listing by early 2025.

If all this sounds like an Alice in Wonderland kind of scenario, given the rapid descent of competitors like Dunzo, hold on. Aadit Palicha, Zepto's co-founder, says the focus from here on will be to turn Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation)-positive in 12-15 months.

Apart from his investors, not many would be convinced with that assertion.

After all, the biggest challenge for quick commerce is the burn. Last mile logistics, angalore, September 4 dark store operations and perishable goods losses, all make it very challenging. Plus, low margins in grocery are a harsh reality that is difficult to handle. So it's a struggle, if not a mirage, to make the business profitable, many say.