We met the Zepto team in the summer of 2020 under uncommon circumstances, but the following 14 months have been nothing short of astounding.
At the time, Contrary had never made an investment in India. The pandemic had been ongoing for 5 months with no sign of stopping. Aadit and Kaivalya had just finished high school, and weren't even old enough to sign a term sheet. This was not a recipe for easy dealmaking.
That said, startups are a game of exceptions.
As Aadit and Kaivalya told their story and articulated their vision for the future of grocery and quick-commerce in India, we were spellbound. Capital-G "Great" founders are rare, but we quickly realized there were two sitting right in front of us. Despite being pre-product and facing a challenging market, we thought they'd figure it out, and that we simply had to be their first investor.
The first few months of product evolution taught the team how to work with food vendors in Mumbai, set up infrastructure, and design a consumer product. Soon enough, demand was far higher than the Zepto could match.
The Seed, Series A, and Series B rounds quickly followed as Aadit and Kaivalya built out a world-class leadership team and shifted into hyper-growth mode.
Though today marks the formal unveiling of Zepto and the 60 million dollars raised, we're most excited to share our conviction in what's ahead.
When founders combine clarity of vision with exceptional day-to-day execution, special things happen. The Zepto team is one to never bet against, and we're honored to support them for the years to come.
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