Quick-commerce firm Zepto is increasingly relying on advertising revenue from consumer brands on its platform to offset lower merchant commissions and keep product prices competitive, according to Mint's analysis of updated draft IPO filings. Advertising revenue rose to ₹1,636 crore in FY26, up 151% from FY25, while revenue from operations grew 104% during the same period to ₹22,624 crore. Advertising accounted for more than 7% of Zepto's operating revenue in FY26, up from about 6% a year earlier. Since the beginning of FY26, Zepto has kept gross profit as a percentage of net receivables value (NRV) within a narrow range even as prices and delivery fees improved for customers, by offsetting commission reductions with higher advertising revenue.
Shares of Eternal Ltd (Zomato) and Swiggy Ltd gained on Tuesday, partly recovering from previous session losses, even as quick commerce rival Zepto filed updated draft papers for its proposed IPO. According to reports from Moneycontrol, Eternal stock, which owns Blinkit, was trading nearly 1 percent higher at ₹250.9 in early trade, while Swiggy shares gained 1.7 percent to ₹245.3. Both major stocks had declined nearly 4 percent each in the previous session.
As reported by Business Standard, Zepto has emerged as the closest challenger to market leader Blinkit in quick commerce, with the company's operating metrics showing significant progress. While Blinkit remains the market leader with 273.9 million orders and revenue of ₹13,232 crore, Zepto generated ₹7,497.6 crore in revenue from operations and processed 210 million orders during Q4 FY26. Despite having roughly half the size of Blinkit's dark-store network, Zepto's order volumes reached nearly 77% of Blinkit's in the March quarter, indicating higher throughput per store and strong demand concentration in key urban markets. The company processed 640 million orders in FY26, compared with Blinkit's roughly 917 million and Instamart's 412 million, while Zepto ended FY26 with 1,139 dark stores compared with around 2,400-plus stores for Blinkit and more than 1,100 for Instamart.
According to NDTV Profit, Zepto has reported a narrowing of its net loss to ₹1,538.67 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, down from ₹1,831.91 crore in Q4 FY25. For the full fiscal year 2025-26, Zepto's loss widened to ₹5,905.19 crore, compared to a loss of ₹4,699.71 crore in the previous fiscal. The company's revenue from operations surged 75.26% to ₹7,497.64 crore in Q4 FY26, from ₹4,278.06 crore in Q4 FY25. Revenue from operations more than doubled to ₹22,623.58 crore in FY26, as against ₹11,109.94 crore in FY25. During Q4 FY26, Zepto handled 21 crore total orders, averaging 23.3 lakh per day, while over the entire fiscal, the platform processed 64 crore orders, averaging over 17 lakh orders daily. However, Zepto's FY26 adjusted EBITDA loss stood at ₹5,042 crore, compared with an adjusted EBITDA loss of ₹3,511 crore for Swiggy Instamart and ₹277 crore for Eternal-owned Blinkit.
According to NDTV Profit, as of March 31, 2026, Zepto had 4.79 crore annual transacting users (ATU), representing a 25% year-over-year growth. The company operated 1,139 dark stores at the end of FY26, almost at par with Instamart's 1,143 stores and roughly half of Blinkit's 2,243 locations. Zepto reported a Net Receivables Value (NRV) of ₹8,133.8 crore in the March quarter, substantially higher than Instamart's Net Order Value (NOV) of ₹5,674.3 crore despite operating a similar number of dark stores. However, it was lower than Blinkit's NOV of ₹14,386 crore. The company's advertising and promotional expenses rose 17% year-on-year in FY26 to ₹1,389 crore, significantly slower than revenue growth, with advertising expenses as a percentage of revenue falling to 6.1% from 10.6% a year earlier, showing greater operating leverage.
According to NDTV Profit, Zepto plans to raise ₹8,010 crore through a fresh issue of shares as part of its proposed IPO, along with an offer for sale of 11.35 crore equity shares by existing shareholders. The overall issue size is estimated at around ₹11,000 crore. The company is expected to launch the IPO in July 2026. The selling shareholders include Nexus Ventures Holdings, Contrary ZEP Holdings, Razor Ventures Zepto, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Permanente Group Trust. Zepto's founders and promoter group will not participate in the OFS. The company was valued at $7 billion in its last funding round in October when it raised $450 million. Ad revenue for the top quick commerce firms is projected to rise to ₹4,900 crore at the end of 2026 from ₹3,000 crore in 2025, according to estimates by market research firm Datum Intelligence.
