A Former YC Partner Makes a Big Bet on Rapid Delivery

The last time I wrote about a startup—outside artificial intelligence—raising money at a higher valuation than in its last round was in May 2022, when blockchain analytics startup Chainalysis raised funds at an $8.6 billion valuation. That’s why I was intrigued to hear about a round that doubled the valuation of Zepto, an Indian rapid-delivery company, in a round co-led by a new venture capital fund. Finally, some variety!

The company, a graduate of Y Combinator that is headquartered in Mumbai, is expected to soon announce a new round of $660 million at a valuation of $3.6 billion, including the investment, according to two people involved in the round. The round’s co-leads are DST Global and Avra, a new fund led by Anu Hariharan, a former Y Combinator partner whom Garry Tan laid off shortly after Tan took over the accelerator last year. This is Avra’s first investment since it set out last year to raise $350 million for investing in growth-stage startups.