Why we chose to invest in Zepto: Lightspeed's Anuvrat Jain
Few companies have managed to surpass their own projections of scale like Zepto has
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Last Updated: Oct 10, 2025, 16:17 IST3 min
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I first met Aadit [Palicha] in early 2022, when his startup had already become Zepto. While KiranaKart was just the legal name, Zepto, the quick-commerce platform, had taken shape and started becoming synonymous with quick-commerce. Back then, it was a very young company, just seven or eight months into operations.
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My first thought was, “Ye kaise possible hai [how is this possible]?” I was both surprised and intrigued that this [10-minute deliveries] could happen and not in just one city, but in multiple cities.
Back then, Aadit and KV (Kaivalya Vohra) were not even 20 and I did not anticipate how Zepto and other Q-comm players (Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart) would change India’s commerce forever. For example, in the ecommerce world, Amazon Prime was already there and had other benefits like Prime Video. But it had not caught on beyond a certain income stratum and cities.
We decided to stay in touch and closely track Zepto. I thought it was a unique company and wanted to track it closely because of the business model Aadit, KV and the team had built. Aadit has this infectious energy and passion to change how consumers shop for essentials in India. Soon we realised, the relentless energy was not limited to Aadit, it was present across his team. Take KV for example. He is the force behind the technology and operations, driving growth from within, while Aadit spends a lot of time on growth initiatives and fundraising.
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As we kept meeting the team, we learnt more about their business. By then, we had made a few more growth investments in the region. Still, it took time to build our conviction.
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For us, the moment came early last year when we realised that we had to be in this company. By then, we had engaged and followed the progress of Aadit, KV and Zepto for almost two years and were in touch consistently with the company. There are few companies and founders who give projections that “we will get to X scale in such time period” and achieve more instead. Aadit and Zepto always achieved 1.5 to 2x. Zepto exhibited that a large number of the dark stores can generate credible Ebidtas in high single digits. The entire industry was thinking how this was even possible.
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When you back such companies, you want to be part of that journey for a very long time. These founders do not want to pause or slow down after reaching a certain stage. They do not want to stop when the opportunity is as large as India’s grocery market and rapidly expanding beyond it. So, our view was that we will support this company as much as possible.
Lightspeed has invested in three rounds so far and it is one of the largest investments by our Growth practice in India. That is how strong our conviction is.
The decision, first time, required us to think through how large this could be and what would steady state economics look like. The question was never “if this will work in India”, as the Indian landscape and consumer behaviour is different from the West when it comes to household grocery consumption. Let me give you an example: In the US, households typically stock food for several days. In India, cosmopolitan homes, daily cooking, and a preference for freshness make frequent replenishment essential. Also, the population density in India is very high, and labour here is relatively cheap compared to the US.
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Somehow, amid all this discussion, the age of the founders never came up for us. Their being young was actually an advantage, because it gave them the hunger to challenge norms, the resilience to take bold risks, and the ability to attract top young talent. Lightspeed has a history of backing young founders. I’ll give you examples: Ritesh [Agarwal] was 19 or so when we invested in OYO; we invested in Pixxel when both its founders were in college; same for Razorpay, and look at the behemoth they have created.
For the entirety of the time I have known Aadit, one thing has been consistent about him: He outworks everyone, he out-executes everyone, and he questions everything.
Jain is principal, growth investing, with Lightspeed As told to Forbes India
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First Published: Oct 10, 2025, 16:17
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