Online grocery firm Zepto announces leadership elevation as it eyes IPO

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Zepto, the online grocery company, has reported major commanding highs as it looks to go public in the next two to three years. In a statement, the company also said that it has quadrupled its business in the past 12 months and has also made several dark shops profitable.

Vinay Dhanani, COO, Zepto now takes on the role of President – Supply Chain & Category. With 15 years of supply chain experience at companies like Flipkart and ITC, Vinay Dhanani joined Zepto as its COO. With his disciplined, detail-oriented approach, he has led the operations and supply chain team to unprecedented achievements in unit economics and customer experience.

“Now, Vinay adds the charter of the premium category to his role – integrating the buy-side and sell-side teams under his leadership,” the company added.

Vikas Sharma takes over the leadership from Danani as the new Chief Operating Officer. He will now lead operations directly from start to finish, from back end distribution centers to the last mile, and supply planning in between. Sharma will continue to report to Dhanani.

Finally, Viral Jhaveri has been named Chief Growth Officer and given an expanded mandate to lead customer acquisition, retention and the brand from start to finish.

Jhaveri takes over this mandate from Amritansu Nanda, who is transferring and leaving the company. The company’s statement said he was taking professional leave to focus on his family and his health.

“Through best-in-class execution over the past 12 months, Zepto has multiplied its business by 4X and made dozens of dark shops fully profitable,” Aadit Palicha, Co-Founder and CEO of Zepto, said in a statement. Vinay, Viral and Vikas have all had a hand Essential in delivering this exceptional performance, which is why these heights are truly well deserved. With a leadership team as strong as the one we have today, I am confident we will build Zepto into a generational public company within 2-3 years.”

This comes at a time when the startup ecosystem has been hit hard by winter funding. Zepto raised $200 million last year at a valuation of $900 million.

In a previous interview with Business Standard, Palicha claimed that profitability is a function of execution, the level of depth a company can build into its supply chain. “I think the (quick-trade) model itself is challenging. It requires best-in-class operational discipline. If you have that, it ends up being a very profitable model. And we see that in our mature dark shops.”