From skepticism to scale: Zepto’s Vohra on building conviction in 10-minute delivery

"We've been able to raise capital and also execute by spending that capital very wisely and prudently to achieve whatever we've achieved and get to the state that we've gotten to. Now, we are at a point where we are in the top two in terms of market share and growing incredibly," said Zepto co-founder Kaivalya Vohra at the 16th edition of TechSparks.

The IPO-bound quick commerce player, first responsible for defining the 10-minute delivery play, has been defending its turf.

In a candid conversation with Shradha Sharma, Founder and CEO of YourStory, Vohra reminisced about the company’s beginnings in Mumbai and the initial scepticism around building in a seemingly impossible space.

"The first bit of scepticism before we started was that, practically, this was not possible. My mom had that scepticism. I was on the phone with her, telling her that we were pivoting and going to do this 10-minute thing. She opened up and said, her house, where she grew up, was maybe 500 meters away from Lokhandwala Circle. And she said to me on the phone, ‘Put a dark stone on Lokhandwala Circle, and you’re not going to deliver in that.’ So that was the first bit of scepticism that everybody had," said Vohra.

The quick commerce sector is notorious for its cut-throat competition, unrealistic valuations, and intense cash burn.

"It takes a lot of intellectual honesty to know the difference between frivolous spending, where fundamentally things just don't make sense, and consciously investing in growth," added Vohra.

The Bengaluru-based quick commerce unicorn raised its latest funding round last month, taking its cash balance to $900 million at a valuation of $7 billion. It raised $450 million in a mix of secondary and primary rounds led by the US-based pension fund California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS). Prior to this, it had announced the closure of a Rs 400 crore fund in August from Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

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One area where Zepto hasn’t pulled back is technology. The company has doubled down on its central thesis of building its own tech stack, investing in analytics, and creating teams from the ground up.

"AI has been very effective in reducing costs, such as in the Contact Data Center. In the last 12 months, we have automated a large percentage, more than 70%, of tickets to be completely resolved by generative AI agents. This has directly led to significant cost savings and a superior customer experience," explained Nikhil Mittal, CTO at Zepto.

A large part of Zepto’s AI drive has been visible in its demand prediction, search optimisation, and inventory management efforts.

"We're probably the industry with the best expiry or dump as a percentage in both traditional retail and online retail," said Vohra.

Even with its IPO dreams and stiff competition pushing it to innovate, Zepto plans to stick to its fundamental plays—a razor-sharp focus on efficient execution and fulfilling the 10-minute delivery experience.

"I think the fundamental basics of our business are not going to change, at least in the near term. What will change, potentially, is the kind of offering we give consumers, which will be quite important," Vohra said.

He further expanded on how new categories have brought changes to Zepto's supply chain process, adding, "Fashion as a category was practically non-existent for us, with nothing beyond basics. Today, it's one of the fastest-growing categories we have. We've figured out the supply chain to deliver a wide range of brands and options. This has required a lot of innovation in how we store inventory and how we manage 10-minute returns if something doesn't fit."