The company had taken board approval and made a confidential filing in December 2025 to raise Rs 11,000 crore ($1.3 billion) through a public listing. The Bengaluru-based company is expected to refile its prospectus with updated FY26 numbers in the first week of May, aligning disclosures with its latest financial performance. "The final approval is expected to come when the company files its updated prospectus, but with in-principle approval, the company is moving forward with the process," said a person familiar with the matter. Zepto also has to submit a certificate confirming that it is done with its TTW (testing the waters) process, which it will finish in the next 2-3 weeks. "That's when SEBI will make it official," he added. TTW in an IPO is a pre-marketing process allowing companies, particularly emerging growth companies (EGCs), to communicate with qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) and accredited institutional investors before filing a registration statement. It helps gauge investor interest and refine valuation without public disclosure. Zepto primarily competes with two other listed players-market leader Blinkit (owned by Eternal) and Swiggy. However, competition is rising from players including Amazon, Flipkart, and Reliance JioMart. If the timeline stays on track, Zepto could hit the public markets by the end of June, making it one of the fastest startups to go for a listing in India. Zepto was founded in 2020 as local grocery store aggregator Kiranakart, before pivoting into its current model, which means it is going public in less than six years. Other unicorns like Mamaearth (Honasa) and Ola Electric have taken 7-8 years to go public. A query sent to Zepto spokesperson was not answered at the time of filing this article. Market volatility could impact valuation: Zepto's plans to go public come at a time of heightened volatility in the capital markets, given the war in the Middle East. India's stock market indices have corrected by 9-10% over the last few months. Last month, payments major PhonePe said it was putting its IPO, planned for April, on hold given the macroeconomic situation. However, PhonePe's IPO was a complete offer for sale (OFS), or secondary sale of shares by existing investors. It had also reduced its valuation expectation to $10 billion from $15 billion initially. Zepto's IPO is focused on raising primary capital, as it is involved in an aggressive battle for market share with well-capitalised rivals. The company has about $600-700 million in cash in the bank as of March 2026, while rivals Blinkit (Eternal) and Swiggy are sitting on $1.9 billion and $1.7 billion as of December 2025. The share prices of both Swiggy and Eternal have also slipped by 30-35% over the last six months, putting additional pressure on valuation multiples in this segment. Given the volatility, analysts estimate that Zepto will have to take a significant valuation cut from its last valuation of $7 billion. Zepto's pitch: According to a source, Zepto's pitch has become "more polished and focused", with a clear narrative around being a 40-50 city operator, rather than an all-out hyper-expansion play. The company has been actively meeting public market investors over the past few days. The Arc reported in February that Zepto is taking its rapid order growth numbers as the IPO story to investors. "In Zepto's narrative, Blinkit caters to a premium customer who is easier to monetise early. Someone who will tolerate a higher minimum order value and fees and place bigger baskets," said a person aware of the ongoing discussions. "Zepto focuses more on value-conscious customers, looking to turn their frequent use into a habit." But internal data shows that the quick-commerce unicorn is still losing money on each transaction at the contribution margin level. For the current quarter, January to March 2026, Zepto's cash burn per order is projected at Rs 42-46. With daily orders rising to 2.37 million, that amounts to Rs 11 crore ($1.2 million) a day in cash outgo, according to data shared with investors and reviewed by The Arc. In Q3 FY26, the company had a burn of Rs 73-78 per order on a total volume of 1.80 million. This translates to Rs 14 crore ($1.6 million) a day. In Q2 FY26, the daily volume and burn stood at 1.46 million and Rs 16 crore ($1.8 million) (Rs 110 per order), respectively. Read our detailed coverage In Zepto's IPO hard sell, order growth meets a margin check. LATEST FINANCIALS AND METRICS (Feb 2026)Wild to mild: Zepto cuts spending, eyes private raise before IPO(May 2025)Zepto moves to change dark store operations before public listing(Jan 2025)With $1.3 bn in cash, Zepto prioritises growth over unit economics(Nov 2024)Why early investor Nexus is going all in on Zepto(June 2024)We want to build a $50-bn company that's profitable, public: Aadit Palicha(June 2024)(For in-depth perspectives on Zepto beyond the scope of this article, you can write to aditi@thearcweb.com.)
