The whole world is after them: boAt's Aman Gupta lauds Zepto co-founders at IES 2024

Zepto co-founders, Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra have found a new fan in boAt's co-founder and a Shark, Aman Gupta. Speaking at the Republic Media Network's India Economic Summit 2024, the 42-year-old entrepreneur cited an example of Palicha and Vohra to highlight that capital is no longer a "problem" if the idea is good and sellable.

"If you look at Zepto guys, [they] are around 21 years old. And today, the whole world is running after them and saying "Take our money"," said Gupta, underscoring how an idea determines whether the business will be successful.

Gupta, who was recently bestowed with the title of 'Celebrity Entrepreneur Award of the Year' by Prime Minister Narendra Modi , added that money cannot be a roadblock to a person's entrepreneurial journey as long as the idea is good. "Money is not a problem today is what I feel. If you have a good idea, entrepreneurs can tap several accelerator funds, different angel investors, and even government schemes, which have started to help startups," he said, urging the founder of a business to be a hustler, believe in ethical business, and have a good idea.

Zepto's beginnings

Co-founded in 2021 by Palicha and Vohra -- both of whom were under 20 years old at the time, Zepto is one of the recent quick-commerce startups focused on hyperlocal deliveries of daily items, such as groceries. In line with the industry-standard claims of 10-minute wait times, Zepto's services are available in metropolitan cities like New Delhi and Mumbai. Zepto's valuation as of August 2024 stands at over $5 billion, prompted by a Series G funding round where the startup raised $340 million, representing a 40 per cent increase from the previous round. Competing with Zomato 's Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Tata's BB Now, Zepto's market share jumped from 15 per cent in March 2022 to 24 per cent in January 2024.