Zepto, an Indian quick commerce startup, announced that it has secured $400 million in a funding round. The round was spearheaded by a new investor, California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), which is a pension fund based in the U.S. The round encompasses both primary and secondary investment and includes participation from current investors like Avenir, Avra, Lightspeed, Glade Brook, The Stepstone Group, and Nexus Venture Partners. Following this funding round, the company intends to become a public entity next year.
Zepto’s competitors in the quick commerce arena include BlinkIt (formerly Zomato), Swiggy Instamart, and BigBasket (owned by Tata), all of which are part of publicly traded companies. The startup had been on a fundraising drive, having raised $1.3 billion over several months the previous year. Since Zepto’s previous funding round in November 2024, Swiggy launched its IPO on the Indian stock exchange, and Blinkit exceeded Zomato in gross order value (the total value of orders placed by customers) during Q1 2025.
The company also faces competition from traditional ecommerce companies like Flipkart and Amazon, both of which have launched their own quick commerce delivery services.
New businesses are also exploring specialized e-commerce offerings. Swish and Zing, backed by Accel, are focused on the food delivery sector; Nykaa (publicly listed), Myntra (owned by Flipkart), Silkk, and Blip aim to provide customers with apparel deliveries within an hour; Snabbit, which is backed by Lightspeed, allows users to schedule home services like cleaning within 10 minutes; and companies such as FirstClub are employing a curation-based strategy for grocery delivery.
Zepto and its CEO, Aadit Palicha, express confidence in the startup’s growth trajectory. Palicha noted that the company has increased its daily order volume from 500,000 five quarters ago to 1.7 million and anticipates continued expansion.
BlinkIt, Instamart, and Zepto all operate in many of these segments, with food delivery being a prominent example. However, Zepto was compelled to discontinue its Zepto Cafe offering in 44 cities due to staffing issues.
Market indicators for quick commerce in India are promising. Morgan Stanley projects that the quick commerce market could reach $42 billion by the year 2030. Bernstein stated in a March note that it could potentially reach $100 billion within a decade.
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Zepto has largely focused on expanding services within India’s major metropolitan areas. J.P. Morgan pointed out earlier in the month that BlinkIt has a dark store network of warehouses to fulfill online orders in over 204 cities, whereas Swiggy Instamart operates in more than 104, and Zepto is in over 80 cities in India.
The investment represents a significant move for CalPERS. The pension fund typically invests in venture capital through intermediary funds rather than directly leading investments in startups. Since 2022, CalPERS has been aggressively increasing its venture exposure after what officials described as a “lost decade” of underperformance, boosting its venture allocation from roughly $800 million to a targeted $5 billion. The fund’s choice to lead a round in an Indian quick-commerce startup suggests substantial institutional confidence in India’s fast delivery sector and possibly CalPERS’ increasing interest in direct venture investments within emerging markets. It’s worth noting that CalPERS is also an investor in funds managed by Zepto’s current backers, such as Lightspeed and General Catalyst.
