Zepto sees senior leadership churn, meat vertical's chief exits ahead of IPO
Quick commerce unicorn Zepto has confirmed multiple senior exits, including Chandan Rungta, the chief executive of its meat business Relish, even as it looks to revive its IPO plans.
Quick commerce unicorn Zepto on Wednesday confirmed multiple senior-level exits at the firm, including Chandan Rungta, the chief executive for its meat business, Relish.
Besides Rungta, Apoorv Pandey, SVP of Strategy, and Chandresh Dedhia, VP and head of information technology at the company, have also marked their exit. This comes just weeks after Shashank Shekhar Sharma, CXO at Zepto Cafe, departed the company to join gourmet retail chain FoodStories as CEO.
The exodus at Zepto also follows Senior Director-Brand Anant Rastogi's departure three weeks ago. Also, business heads Suraj Sipani, Vijay Bandhiya, and director of strategy Roshan Shaikh also earlier exited the firm. The development was first reported by MoneyControl.
Zepto President Vinay Dhanani is expected to lead both private labels as well as Zepto Cafe after Sharma and Rungta's exit.
Relish, Zepto's private-label meat brand, competes with a host of brands, including FreshToHome and Licious. According to a person aware of the details, the segment clocked a monthly revenue of Rs 50–60 crore for Zepto in September, followed by a relatively weaker October on account of the festive season. On an annualised basis, the segment is on track to close upwards of Rs 500 crore in revenue by the end of this year.
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IPO Bells
Aadit Palicha-led Zepto is now preparing to revive its IPO (initial public offering) plans after putting them on hold earlier this year. According to a recent report by Economic Times, the quick commerce unicorn is expected to file draft documents over the next 2–3 weeks with the markets regulator via the confidential route.
YourStory had earlier reported that Zepto is unlikely to file its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) this year and has deferred its IPO plans to 2026. The company had selected bankers Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Axis Capital to pursue the listing.
Zepto has joined a host of domestic startups eyeing the bourses, with companies like Meesho, RazorPay, and ShadowFax already going for the public markets. Investment platform Groww's IPO drew a 57% subscription on day 1, while omnichannel eyewear retailer Lenskart's IPO was oversubscribed more than 28 times by the end of bidding.
Edited by Kanishk Singh