How Zepto Makes Money: The 10-Minute Delivery Business Model Explained
The short answer
Zepto makes money by selling groceries and everyday items from its own network of small dark stores and earning a margin on each order, plus delivery and platform fees, a paid membership (Zepto Daily), and a fast-growing advertising business where brands pay to be seen in the app. It is growing fast but still loses money: in FY25 its total sales more than doubled to Rs 9,668.8 crore, and its net loss nearly tripled to Rs 3,367.3 crore. In October 2025 it raised $450 million at a $7 billion valuation, and it has filed for an IPO in India.
What Zepto is
Zepto is an Indian quick-commerce company founded in 2021 by Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra. It promises to deliver groceries, snacks, household goods and more in about 10 minutes. It competes mainly with Blinkit (owned by Eternal, formerly Zomato) and Swiggy Instamart, and more recently with Flipkart Minutes and Amazon Now.
By October 2025, Zepto said it was handling about 1.7 million orders a day, up from about 0.5 million five quarters earlier, from more than 1,000 dark stores across 80+ cities, according to TechCrunch.
How 10-minute delivery actually works
The trick isn't fast riding. It's a short distance. Zepto runs dark stores: small warehouses of roughly 2,500 to 3,000 sq ft that aren't open to walk-in shoppers. Each one stocks a few thousand fast-moving items and serves a small radius, so a rider only travels a short way.
That model has one big rule: every dark store needs enough orders per day to cover its rent, staff and riders. A store doing a few hundred orders a day loses money. A store doing thousands can make money. Most of Zepto's strategy comes down to pushing more orders through each store.
Zepto's five revenue streams
1. Product margins
Zepto earns the difference between what it pays suppliers and what customers pay. Groceries are low-margin, so Zepto has pushed into higher-margin categories like snacks, personal care, electronics accessories and its in-app cafe.
2. Fees
Delivery fees, small-cart fees and platform fees used to add a few rupees to many orders. In November 2025, Zepto removed handling and surge fees, betting that lower prices would bring more orders. That shows how fiercely the market competes on price.
3. Zepto Daily membership
Like Amazon Prime, a paid membership trades a fixed fee for perks like free delivery. Members tend to order more often, which raises order density per store.
4. Advertising
Brands pay to appear in search results, banners and "sponsored" slots inside the app. Ad revenue costs almost nothing extra to deliver, so it's among the most profitable money Zepto makes. This is the same playbook Amazon used.
5. Data tools for brands
Zepto sells brands an analytics product called Atom, priced at around $340 a month according to Contrary Research, which shows them how their products sell across neighbourhoods.
The numbers: growing fast, losing more
According to its FY25 financial statements reported by ETRetail, Zepto's total sales rose 129% to Rs 9,668.8 crore from Rs 4,223.9 crore. Its net loss rose 177% to Rs 3,367.3 crore from Rs 1,214.7 crore. Losses grew faster than revenue because Zepto was opening hundreds of new dark stores, and new stores lose money until they fill up with orders.
Contrary Research, using later figures, reports that Zepto's adjusted EBITDA loss per order has narrowed from about Rs 136 to about Rs 79. That's the metric to watch: if it reaches zero, the model works.
The core bet: open dark stores now, take losses while they ramp up, and profit once each store has enough orders.
Zepto vs Blinkit vs Instamart
Zepto's biggest problem is that its two main rivals are bigger in reach. According to J.P. Morgan figures cited by TechCrunch, Blinkit operates in 204+ cities and Swiggy Instamart in 104+, compared with Zepto's 80+. Blinkit is part of the listed company Eternal, and Instamart is part of listed Swiggy. Both can lean on a parent's food-delivery business and public-market access. Zepto has to raise private money or go public.
The IPO plan
Zepto filed an updated draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with SEBI in June 2026. In August 2026, the IPO was reported to be paused, with CEO Aadit Palicha telling Moneycontrol he aimed to list within two to three quarters. Once SEBI approves a filing, the company typically has 12 months to launch the issue.
For investors, the IPO will force Zepto to publish more detailed store-level numbers. That will finally show how many of its dark stores are profitable.
What this tells us about quick commerce
Zepto shows both the promise and the danger of 10-minute delivery. The promise is that customers love it and order often, and that ads and memberships can turn a low-margin grocery business into something much better. The danger is what happened to Dunzo, which ran the same race with less money and shut down in 2025. The pressure also lands on gig workers, as seen in the Blinkit delivery partners' strike.
Quick quiz: Zepto by the numbers
Frequently asked questions
How does Zepto make money?
Zepto earns margins on products sold from its dark stores, plus fees, the Zepto Daily membership, in-app advertising sold to brands and the Atom analytics tool.
Is Zepto profitable?
No. Zepto reported a net loss of Rs 3,367.3 crore in FY25 on total sales of Rs 9,668.8 crore, although its loss per order has been shrinking.
What is a dark store?
A dark store is a small warehouse, about 2,500 to 3,000 sq ft for Zepto, that isn't open to shoppers. It exists only to pick and pack online orders for quick delivery in a small area.
What is Zepto's valuation?
Zepto raised $450 million at a valuation of about $7 billion in October 2025.
When is the Zepto IPO?
Zepto filed an updated DRHP with SEBI in June 2026. The listing was paused in August 2026, and the CEO has said he aims to list within two to three quarters.
Related reading on Page Twenty One
Sources
ETRetail / IANS, Zepto FY25 financials: https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/tag/zepto
TechCrunch, Zepto raises $450M at $7B valuation: https://techcrunch.com/tag/zepto/
Contrary Research, Zepto business breakdown: https://research.contrary.com/company/zepto
Moneycontrol, Zepto IPO timeline: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/tags/zepto.html
SEBI, draft offer documents: https://www.sebi.gov.in/sebiweb/home/HomeAction.do?doListing=yes&sid=3&ssid=15&smid=10
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