Zepto Stalls IPO, Weekly Funding Rundown & More

Zepto Halts IPO Express

Zepto has once again put its D-Street debut on hold. The quick commerce now plans to chase a pre-IPO fundraise and strengthen its balance sheet before re-attempting its listing next year. So, what does Zepto’s new plan for public markets look like?

The New Timeline: Addressing employees at a town hall last week, cofounder and CEO Aadit Palicha said that Zepto now plans to list on the bourses between February and May 2027. He also indicated that the startup will update its DRHP with newer financials and list within the window allowed by SEBI.

The Interim Plan: With SEBI’s clearance expected to remain valid till November 2027, Zepto plans to use this extended window to raise a $105 Mn pre-IPO round from both domestic and overseas investors. With the fresh infusion, the startup would be looking to curtail burn, optimise dark stores and align with the valuation expectations of investors.

The Investor Resistance: The decision to defer comes after significant internal pushback from institutional investors, who value Zepto at around $2.5 Bn to $3 Bn. This represents a sharp downgrade from $7 Bn at which the startup was pegged in 2025. The reason? Backers remain wary of backing Zepto’s high cash burn story at a premium valuation multiple. 

The Fledgling Economics: Despite nearly doubling its operating revenue to ₹22,624 Cr in FY26, Zepto’s net loss also widened to ₹5,095 Cr. Fierce competition across the quick commerce space continues to demand heavy capital for dark store expansion and discounting, resulting in Zepto’s quarterly cash burn climbing to ₹700 Cr. 

With its work cut out – narrow losses and bridge the valuation gap, can Zepto deliver a convincing IPO story in 2027? Let’s find out…

From The Editor’s Desk

Weekly Funding Takes A Hit

• Indian startups managed to raise $142 Mn last week, down 32% from $209 Mn bagged in the previous week. Deal count also contracted to 11 from 14 in the week-ago period. 
• Freehand and Arboreal topped the funding charts last week, raising $75 Mn and $24 Mn, respectively. As usual, AI emerged the top funded sector last week, bagging about $92.8 Mn across three deals.
• Early-stage startups continued to see healthy action as five startups at the seed stage raised about $11.8 Mn last week. Meanwhile, Omnivore emerged as the most active investor last week as it backed two startups.

UPI Gathers Steam In July

• The digital payments infrastructure processed 2,366 Cr transactions in July, up 4% from 2,272 Cr in June. The total transaction value of these payments also rose 3% month-on-month to ₹29.88 Lakh Cr.
• The average daily transaction count rose marginally to 76.3 Cr in July from 757 Mn in the previous month. Meanwhile, the average daily transaction value stood at ₹96,383 Cr, slightly lower from ₹96,405 Cr recorded in June.
• The data comes as the Centre is reconsidering the introduction of MDR on UPI payments. Under the proposed regime, businesses with an annual turnover of ₹1 Cr or more have to pay an MDR of 0.05% to 0.07% on transactions above ₹2,000.  

New-Age Tech Stocks Rebound

• Of the 59 listed startup stocks under Inc42’s coverage, 38 ended last week in the black and posted gains between 0.06% and 13.5%. The remaining 21 saw a decline, with losses ranging from 0.18% to 10.9%. 
• Logistics major Shadowfax and Swiggy emerged as the biggest gainers last week, while Zappfresh and TAC Infosec shed the most. Overall, the combined m-cap of the 59 listed startups stood at $136.91 Bn, down from $138.25 Bn a week earlier. 
• Looking ahead, investors will track the RBI Monetary Policy Committee’s decision this week, the ongoing Q1 FY27 earnings season, July GST collections and PMI data, along with global macroeconomic developments for market cues. 

Shadowfax’s FY27 Outlook

• The logistics major has raised its FY27 revenue growth forecast to 38-40%, a significant jump from the 28-30% guidance projected just a quarter ago. It also increased the FY27 coverage target for heavy shipments arm, Prime Large, to 12,000 pincodes. 
• The company is leaning on a mix of hyperlocal, express ecommerce and D2C tailwinds to feed into the revised outlook. The broader consolidation in the 3PL logistics market and Shadowfax’s expansion spree are also expected to help achieve the new target.
• Quick commerce is also emerging as a strategic bet. Of the 100 dark stores planned for FY27, 47 were already operational by June and another 20 are slated to go live soon. This is expected to give Shadowfax dedicated nodes to support ultra‑fast delivery  for brands.

Kissht’s Quiet Pivot

• The NBFC is entering into its “quality over quantity” era. As part of this, Kissht is prioritising lower credit costs, sustainable profitability and technology‑led efficiency even if it means giving up some yield in the near term.
• While unsecured loans make up 92.3% of its ₹8,001 Cr AUM, the company is building the secured loans against property arm as its second growth engine. With AI and model‑based underwriting, the vertical is expected to break even by Q3 FY27.
• Beyond personal loans, Kissht is also inching towards becoming a broader financial services platform. It has secured AMFI licence for mutual fund distribution and is looking to offer gold, business, education and auto loans over the next decade.

Inc42 Markets

Inc42 Startup Spotlight

Can FermBox Brew The Future Of Sustainable Materials?

Global supply chains still depend on plant, animal and petrochemical inputs that are volatile, resource-heavy and hard to decarbonise. FermBox Bio is betting on synthetic biology to engineer sustainable alternatives for everything, from flavours to fabrics.

The Synthetic Model: Founded in 2022, FermBox Bio is building a precision fermentation and strain-engineering platform to replace conventional industrial materials. The startup’s thesis is that engineered biology can produce the same inputs more efficiently than traditional agriculture or petrochemicals.

Engineering Enzymes: Using microbial engineering, FermBox designs and manufactures enzymes, proteins, flavours, fragrances, dyes, lipids and other biomaterials. These are targeted at sectors such as biofuels, health and wellness, textiles and cosmeceuticals, where brands are under growing pressure to clean up their ingredient lists and supply chains. 

From Lab To Launch: FermBox covers the full value chain, from strain design and product development to manufacturing and commercialisation. It also works with enterprises through a “lab-to-launch” model, co-developing and scaling bio-based ingredients for specific use cases. 

With the homegrown synthetic bioeconomy projected to become a $2.8 Bn opportunity by 2033, can FermBox become India’s bio-foundry for lab-grown enzymes?

Infographic Of The Day

The battle for food delivery is heating up. As restaurateurs up the ante against Swiggy and Zomato over commissions, Ownly is quietly disrupting the space with its zero-commission model. Can Rapido’s food delivery platform break the foodtech duopoly?

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