Zepto is in advanced discussions to file draft documents by March-April for an initial public offering, as the quick-commerce firm has now secured Singapore’s approval to move its holding entity to India, people aware of the plan said.
The company is aiming to file its draft red herring prospectus by March, ideally, but that may slip into April as well, the people said.
Meanwhile, the National Company Law Tribunal is scheduled to hear on January 17 its reverse merger application to move the domicile from Singapore to India. The Singapore clearance was a significant part of the process.
The Bengaluru-based company has called a board meeting on January 19, people briefed on the matter said, likely to deliberate on the IPO size and appointment of bankers for the issue, as well as consider resolutions on shifting the holding entity to India.
“They (Zepto) are knee-deep in the IPO process and the next board meeting will also discuss this,” one of the people said. “The reverse merger needs to be approved and the Indian entity will also require a certain timeline before it can turn into a public limited company – a process before filing for IPO.”
Zepto is also in the middle of finalising independent directors as part of being an IPO-bound firm.Zepto could become the first independent quick-commerce firm to go public. The parents of its top rivals – Zomato and Swiggy that own the Blinkit and Instamart platforms – are already listed. Much of the surge in Zomato’s stock price in 2024 has been attributed to Blinkit’s performance.ET first reported on September 7 that Zepto was in talks with bankers aiming for a mid-2025 IPO. Its original plan was to raise at least $450 million, but that could change closer to the filing of the draft IPO papers.
Wall Street bankers including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are in talks with Zepto for its IPO, ET had reported. “They will be there along with a few more bankers,” another source aware of the goings-on at Zepto said.
Zepto closed a $350 million funding on November 22, taking its cash pile to around $1.4 billion as it competes against rivals and new entrants like Flipkart Minutes in the fast-growing market.
Its plan to move the holding company to India comes at a time when authorities are scrutinising the operations of quick-commerce firms for compliance with the local foreign direct investment regulations.
“We’re 100% compliant with the country’s FDI regulations and have been since day one. But we’re also rapidly moving towards having local ownership of our company,” Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha told ET after closing the last funding round in November. In about six months, the company raised more than $1 billion – the most by a local startup last year.