Zepto (Zepto Limited)
Leadership History
2 leaders · 2021 to present
Aadit Palicha is the CEO of Zepto, in the role since 2021.
| Name | Role | From | To | Years in role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aadit Palicha | Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer | 2021 | Present | 5 |
| Kaivalya Vohra | Co-Founder | 2021 | Present | 5 |
Zepto launched in Mumbai in 2021, promising grocery delivery in about 10 minutes, and has since expanded across major Indian cities from its Bengaluru base. Within five years it grew to more than $2.55 billion (₹22,000 crore) in annual revenue. It is run by its two co-founders, with Aadit Palicha as CEO. Nexus Venture Partners, StepStone, General Catalyst, Glade Brook and Lightspeed are among its investors. The company is headquartered in Mumbai, India.
Zepto earns money in three main ways. It earns a margin on goods sold from its dark stores, either directly or through sellers on its marketplace. It charges customers delivery, handling and small-cart fees, and offers a paid membership. It also sells advertising to consumer brands, which grew from ~$5.68 million (₹49 crore) in FY24 to ~$190 million (₹1,636 crore) in FY26 according to its prospectus. Zepto Cafe adds prepared food and beverages made inside the dark stores.
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
2021 – Present
5 years (current)
Moved the business from kirana partnerships to company-run dark stores, raised several large venture rounds, and took the company through SEBI approval for an IPO in 2026.
Has led Zepto since launch, growing it to ~$2.62 billion (₹22,624 crore) in FY26 revenue.
Co-Founder
2021 – Present
5 years (current)
Vohra architected the incredibly complex, highly optimized backend routing algorithms that allow the platform to reliably promise and execute 10-minute grocery delivery in India's most chaotic, traffic-choked mega-cities.
As Co-Founder and CTO (dropping out of Stanford at age 18), he provides the absolute critical technical brilliance required to make the massively unprofitable 'quick commerce' model highly efficient.
Zepto is still loss-making. Its net loss rose 26% to ~$685 million (₹5,905 crore) in FY26, and cumulative losses across FY24-FY26 exceed ~$1.37 billion (₹11,800 crore). It competes with Blinkit (owned by Eternal, formerly Zomato) and Swiggy Instamart, both backed by listed parents, and with Amazon and Flipkart, which are expanding their own fast-delivery services. In July 2026 its IPO was put on hold over a valuation gap. The updated prospectus also disclosed that the Enforcement Directorate summoned the founders under FEMA in April 2026.
Co-founder Aadit Palicha has served as Zepto's Chief Executive Officer since its founding in 2021, leading corporate strategy, venture fundraising, real estate expansion, and business growth.
Palicha grew up in Dubai, launched a carpooling startup called GoPool at age 17, and enrolled to study computer science at Stanford University before dropping out in 2020 to build Zepto in Mumbai.
Aadit Palicha serves as CEO managing external strategy, investor relations, and commercial operations, while co-founder Kaivalya Vohra serves as CTO leading the software, algorithms, and engineering stack.
Palicha emphasizes relentless unit economics, rigorous dark store time-and-motion optimization, and capital discipline, frequently visiting dark stores to personally observe picking workflows.
While competitors stalled, Palicha proved store-level contribution profitability in mature dark stores, allowing Zepto to break the funding winter and raise $200M to become 2023's first Indian unicorn.
Key leadership includes Chief Operating Officer Vinay Dhanani, Chief Financial Officer Ramesh Bafna (former Myntra CFO), and Chief Growth Officer Amritansu Nanda.
Palicha and Vohra were named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 Asia list and recognized by Hurun India as the country's youngest self-made entrepreneurs heading a multi-billion-dollar enterprise.
Palicha envisions Zepto becoming an enduring Indian public corporation that powers every urban household's daily commerce needs within 10 minutes, generating massive operating cash flows.
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