Zepto’s IPO filing reveals rapid growth, bigger losses and a valuation question no one has yet answered

An Indian startup for rapid commerce Zepto Y Combinator has unveiled plans for an initial public offering that could be worth about $1 billion, putting one of Y Combinator’s biggest bets outside the United States on the path to the public markets.

the Depositreleased on Monday, offers a rare look at how one of India’s most watched startups plans to sustain its rapid growth post-listing. Zepto’s advertising revenue rose more than 151% year-over-year to INR 16.4 billion (about $171 million) in fiscal 2026, outpacing the company’s 104% increase in operating revenue to INR 115.5 billion (about $2.4 billion).

While grocery deliveries remain Zepto’s core business, the faster growth of its advertising arm signals a broader shift in how the startup makes money — a strategy Amazon has pioneered, transforming its market into one of the world’s largest. Profitable advertising companies By selling visibility to the same merchants competing on its platform.

Founded in 2021 by Stanford dropouts Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, Zepto has grown into one of India’s fastest-growing startups, competing with Blinkit and Zomato-owned Swiggy’s Instamart in the country’s hotly contested express commerce market. So did Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart They intensified their efforts in this sector in recent months.

Despite intense competition, Zepto continued to add customers and orders rapidly. The startup processed more than 640 million orders in fiscal 2026, according to a draft prospectus, nearly double the previous year, while the number of annual transaction users rose to nearly 48 million. Even as it expanded its network to 1,139 stores, orders per store continued to increase, indicating that demand is growing along with its presence.

But this growth comes at a cost. Zepto remains loss-making, recording a net loss of INR 59.1 billion (about US$617.36 million) in fiscal 2026, compared to INR 47.0 billion (about US$492.45 million) in the previous year. The startup acknowledged in its filing that it may continue to incur losses and may not be able to maintain its historical growth rates, a record-setting but telling disclosure that highlights the tension facing venture-backed companies seeking public market investors before reaching profitability.

Zepto plans to raise up to INR 80.1 billion (about US$837.41 million) through a fresh equity issue. The IPO will also include an offer for sale of up to 113.5 million shares by existing investors including Nexus Venture Partners, Contary and Razor Ventures, with the final size of the sale dependent on the final pricing of the offering. The startup also said it may raise up to 16.02 billion rupees (about $167 million) from investors in pre-IPO mode ahead of the listing.

The list is set to provide a closely watched score for some of Zepto’s early backers. It was the beginning $7 billion in the latest financing round In October, its investors include Y Combinator, Lachy Groom, Nexus Venture Partners, StepStone, Glade Brook, and Lightspeed.

Several notable shareholders — including funds affiliated with Y Combinator, Lightspeed, StepStone, Groom and Glade Brook — are not participating in the IPO for sale, opting to hold on to their stakes as the startup prepares for its market debut. It’s worth pausing: Zepto’s public market valuation remains uncertain, and some mutual funds and family offices that reviewed the company before the IPO have indicated valuations that are much lower than the last private round, according to people familiar with the matter.

The document revealed that Zepto’s founders received summons from India’s anti-money laundering agency, Enforcement Directorate, in April, seeking information regarding foreign investments, the company’s shareholding structure, and other matters under the country’s foreign exchange laws.

The two then appeared before the agency and provided the required information and documents. Zepto said it had not received any further communications from the regulator since then, but cautioned that it could not rule out future inquiries, investigations or sanctions.

The proposed listing represents the culmination of years-long efforts to prepare the startup for its debut in the local market. Zepto It moved its legal headquarters from Singapore to India last yearjoining a growing number of startups restructuring their holding companies as local public markets become increasingly attractive for technology listings.