Indian quick-commerce startup Zepto has laid out plans for an initial public offering that could value the company at about $1 billion, thrusting one of Y Combinator’s most prominent India bets toward the public markets.

The draft prospectus offers an unusually detailed look at how Zepto intends to turn blistering growth into a sustainable business. Advertising has emerged as a powerful new engine: ad revenue surged more than 151 percent year-over-year to ₹16.4 billion, outpacing the 104 percent rise in operating revenue to ₹115.5 billion. The model echoes Amazon’s playbook, using the core marketplace to sell visibility to brands and merchants.

Grocery delivery remains Zepto’s foundation, but the numbers show a platform rapidly scaling on multiple fronts. Founded in 2021 by Stanford dropouts Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, Zepto now battles Zomato-owned Blinkit and Swiggy’s Instamart in India’s crowded quick-commerce arena, while Amazon and Walmart-backed Flipkart push deeper into the same territory.

According to the filing, Zepto processed more than 640 million orders in fiscal 2026, nearly double the previous year. Annual transacting users climbed to almost 48 million. Even as the company expanded its dark-store network to 1,139 locations, orders per store continued to rise, suggesting that demand is not merely following new supply but intensifying where Zepto already operates.

The growth, however, is expensive. Zepto reported a net loss of ₹59.1 billion in fiscal 2026, widening from ₹47.0 billion a year earlier. The company warns it may continue to incur losses and may not sustain its historical growth rates, underscoring the central dilemma for investors: how long public markets will tolerate red ink in exchange for scale.

Zepto plans to raise up to ₹80.1 billion through a fresh issue of shares, alongside an offer-for-sale of up to 113.5 million shares by existing investors. It may also secure up to ₹16.02 billion in a pre-IPO placement. Some of its most prominent backers, including Y Combinator-linked funds and Lightspeed, are choosing not to sell, effectively betting that the listing will validate or exceed Zepto’s last private valuation of $7 billion, even as some prospective investors reportedly model lower numbers.

The filing also discloses that founders Palicha and Vohra were summoned by India’s Enforcement Directorate over foreign investment and shareholding questions. Zepto says it has complied with information requests and has not received further communication, while cautioning that future regulatory action cannot be ruled out.

Behind the financials and legal fine print lies a broader test: whether India’s public markets are ready to price the promise and risk of a still-unprofitable, hypergrowth quick-commerce player whose most important answers may only emerge after it lists.