Zepto: How Two 17-Year-Olds Built India's Largest Seller Of Fruits and Vegetables

Aadit Palicha is the co-founder and CEO of Zepto, one of India's largest quick-commerce grocery platforms. What began as a WhatsApp group delivering groceries to neighbors in Mumbai during COVID has grown into a company employing over 200,000 people, processing millions of deliveries per day and operating one of India's largest fruits and vegetables supply chains — all built around a 10-minute delivery model powered by a network of dark stores. At Startup School India, Aadit sat down with YC's Jared Friedman to talk about the scrappy origins of Zepto, the pivot from a doorstep delivery model to owning their own dark store infrastructure and how the company is now using AI and robotics to drive supply chain efficiency and grow a fast-scaling advertising business. Chapters: 00:00 – Intro 00:17 – How Zepto Got Started 03:12 – Stanford or Startup? 04:46 – Competing in a Crowded Market 07:03 – The Pivot: Dark Stores & Zepto Is Born 10:30 – The 10-Minute Delivery Vision 12:04 – Obsessing Over 100 Customers 15:07 – The Hidden Supply Chain 18:11 – Scale & What Zepto Is Today 20:05 – The Long-Term Vision for Zepto 22:44 – How Zepto Uses AI 25:35 – The Engineering Team 26:12 – How Aadit Kept Leveling Up Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs

Aadit PalichaguestJared Friedmanhost

May 19, 202628mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: May 19, 2026
Duration: 28m
Channel: Y Combinator
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Aadit Palicha is the co-founder and CEO of Zepto, one of India's largest quick-commerce grocery platforms. What began as a WhatsApp group delivering groceries to neighbors in Mumbai during COVID has grown into a company employing over 200,000 people, processing millions of deliveries per day and operating one of India's largest fruits and vegetables supply chains — all built around a 10-minute delivery model powered by a network of dark stores. At Startup School India, Aadit sat down with YC's Jared Friedman to talk about the scrappy origins of Zepto, the pivot from a doorstep delivery model to owning their own dark store infrastructure and how the company is now using AI and robotics to drive supply chain efficiency and grow a fast-scaling advertising business. Chapters: 00:00 – Intro 00:17 – How Zepto Got Started 03:12 – Stanford or Startup? 04:46 – Competing in a Crowded Market 07:03 – The Pivot: Dark Stores & Zepto Is Born 10:30 – The 10-Minute Delivery Vision 12:04 – Obsessing Over 100 Customers 15:07 – The Hidden Supply Chain 18:11 – Scale & What Zepto Is Today 20:05 – The Long-Term Vision for Zepto 22:44 – How Zepto Uses AI 25:35 – The Engineering Team 26:12 – How Aadit Kept Leveling Up Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs

SPEAKERS

Aadit Palicha
guest
Co-founder and CEO of Zepto, the Indian quick-commerce company known for scaling rapid grocery delivery and a large fruits-and-vegetables supply chain.
Jared Friedman
host
Y Combinator partner who hosts and interviews founders at YC events such as Startup School.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Y Combinator, featuring Aadit Palicha and Jared Friedman, Zepto: How Two 17-Year-Olds Built India's Largest Seller Of Fruits and Vegetables explores zepto’s origin story: customer obsession to 10-minute grocery logistics Zepto began as two 17-year-olds delivering groceries for neighbors during COVID via WhatsApp, which revealed unmet needs in speed, quality, selection, and price.

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