Aadit Palicha: Meet the Stanford dropout who now runs $900 million startup Zepto

Aadit Palicha was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Palicha did his schooling in Mumbai, and went to Stanford for graduation in Computer Engineering but dropped out to start his own startup. Aadita's entrepreneurship journey started with GoPool when he was only 17 years old. He also founded the company PryvaSee, an AI project that summarized privacy policies.

Aadit Palicha, a popular news sensation of today is the CEO and founder of the famous grocery app Zepto. It is an instant grocery delivery startup that has raised $100 million in a funding round led by Y Combinator, taking its valuation to $570 million within five months of starting services in India. The net worth of the company today is $900 million, according to reports.

Aadit Palicha was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Palicha did his schooling in Mumbai, and went to Stanford for graduation in Computer Engineering but dropped out to start his own startup.

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  Aadita's entrepreneurship journey started with GoPool when he was only 17 years old. He also founded the company PryvaSee, an AI project that summarized privacy policies.

Zepto was founded earlier this year (2021) and has been operational since April 2021. Within months of the launch, the startup has gained a net worth of $200 million to $300 million after achieving $60 million in an initial funding round. It now delivers over 2,500 items including fresh produce, cooking essentials, snacks and beverages, personal care items, and home cleaning products, according to media reports.

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The concept of delivering everything and anything without any quantity limit is game-changing for today's modern world.  He is one of the youngest entrepreneurs in India, whose startup may soon be on the list of unicorns.

Zepto was born amid the pandemic to deliver services to people instantly as intended to reduce delivery times. Zepto’s tagline is, “Groceries delivered in 10 minutes.”

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The company is also testing several services that will bring coffee, tea, and other products from local cafes in under 10 minutes throughout a number of Mumbai neighborhoods. If the experiment goes well, the company aims to expand this service across India, which is not a food delivery sector.

The company is founded by the two childhood friends pursuing Stanford University’s sought-after computer science program. They returned to India with a plan to build a quick commerce company. It is headquartered in Mumbai.

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Before starting the Zepto, he co-founded the Kiranakart with his classmate Kaivalya Vohra, but could not find the right product for the market so they closed that business.


Zepto today is giving tough competition to startups like SoftBank Group Corp.-backed Blinkit, Google-backed Dunzo, and Naspers Ltd.-backed Swiggy, as well as the likes of Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc.-backed Flipkart.

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“The way we are growing right now, and the current penetration and frequency of usage we are seeing, the opportunity is just massive,” Mr. Plaicha said in an interview.

It is a grocery app that delivers everything of your need from personal to the kitchen to anything to your doorsteps within 10 minutes or even less than that.

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In 2021, it collaborated with 86 dark store owners in thirteen different places, resulting in more than one million deliveries. Zepto uses its network of ‘cloud shops’ or micro-warehouses to fulfill orders quickly.

As of now, the venture delivers in Delhi, Chennai, Gurgaon, Bangalore & Mumbai. They have planned to grow their business in cities such as Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai, according to reports.

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