On New Year’s day, Swiggy and Zomato peer Zepto’s founder makes 2025 predictions for quick commerce

Palicha’s second prediction is that 2025 will separate the boys from the men in the sector. “It will become clear Quick Commerce requires exceptional execution to succeed, and it will be challenging for every single player to deliver that level of execution,” he wrote.

The third prediction, Palicha wrote, is that the fundamentals of quick commerce will evolve dramatically, the customer value proposition will level up quickly, and unit economics and initiatives to build operating leverage will change.  

“The capital markets environment for this industry, from private to public, will also be different compared to 2024 and 2023,” he added. In November 2024, Zepto raised $340 million at a valuation of $5 billion, just two months after a $665 million funding round at a $3.6 billion valuation, taking the total fund raise in 2024 to over $1 billion. The company is now targeting an IPO in the next 12-24 months.

On New Year’s Eve, Palicha wrote that Zepto is up 200% compared to last year and handling lakhs of orders per hour. Zepto recorded a 120% growth in its FY24 operating revenue to ₹4,454 crore from ₹2025 crore in FY23. According to Tofler data, its net loss shrank marginally to ₹1,248.6 crore in FY24 from ₹1,272 crore in FY23.

Zepto earns much larger revenue than Swiggy Instamart and Zomato’s Blinkit. 

Meanwhile, competition in the quick commerce space is heating up, too, with several new entrants. Bigbasket pivoted completely to quick commerce with BBNow in 2024. Flipkart launched Flipkart Minutes, Myntra launched 30-minute delivery of apparel and fashion with M-Now and Amazon, too, has begun piloting Tez. Meanwhile, Reliance Industries is also eyeing the quick commerce space.

Experts say 2025 will be the year the quick commerce model will be tested, with all platforms yet to turn profitable.