Zepto’s IPO Valuation Drops 27% as Norway’s Fund Backs Every Rival Too

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund and Mumbai brokerage Motilal Oswal have agreed to anchor Zepto’s initial public offering, Moneycontrol’s Tech3 newsletter reported, even as the quick-commerce startup’s valuation gets cut by more than a quarter. Norges Bank Investment Management and Motilal Oswal are negotiating to build 40 to 45% of Zepto’s anchor book, with the company now being priced around $5.1 billion, well below the $7 billion it fetched nine months ago.

Norges already holds stakes tied to Zepto’s two biggest rivals, Zomato parent Eternal and Swiggy. That means the same fund is on track to have money riding on all three companies fighting over India’s 10-minute delivery habit, right as one of them prices its shares at a steep discount to where private investors valued it last year.

A Sovereign Fund With a Stake in Every Rival

Norges Bank Investment Management runs Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, built over decades from North Sea oil revenue. The fund owns almost 1.5% of all shares in the world’s listed companies, making it one of the largest single shareholders on the planet.

In Zepto’s case, Norges and Motilal Oswal are close to locking in 40 to 45% of the anchor book, people familiar with the talks told Moneycontrol’s Tech3 newsletter, with more investors expected to join once that anchor tranche is finalised. Anchor investors buy in a day before an Indian IPO opens to the public, at a fixed price, effectively setting the tone for everyone who follows.

The fund has backed several of India’s new-age consumer companies already, including Eternal and Swiggy, Zepto’s two largest rivals in quick commerce, according to the newsletter. A completed Zepto listing would give Norges simultaneous exposure to all three companies racing to own India’s 10-minute delivery habit.

The Reports Don’t Agree on the Price

Exactly how much Zepto is worth depends on who is asked. Moneycontrol’s Tech3 newsletter puts current anchor talks at $5.1 billion post money and $4.3 billion pre money, a correction of at least 27% from the $7 billion valuation Zepto commanded in October 2025. Other reporting paints a rougher picture.

Bloomberg has reported a markdown closer to 50%, with foreign investors valuing Zepto near $4.5 billion and domestic institutional investors as low as $3 billion to $3.5 billion. The spread shows how unsettled price discovery still is, weeks before Zepto is due to set a final price band.

The gap matters because Norges hasn’t been an indiscriminate India buyer lately. India’s share of the fund’s global portfolio slipped roughly 40 basis points to 2.1% in the year to December 2025, even as its rupee holdings kept growing in absolute terms.

NBIM’s reduced India exposure is less about India-specific concerns and more about a global portfolio reset.

Akshat Garg, head of research and product at Choice Wealth, said in comments carried by Outlook Business, pointing to a stronger showing from Taiwan’s semiconductor-heavy market and rupee depreciation as bigger factors than any India-specific pullback.

Losses Widened 177% While Sales Nearly Doubled

The caution shows up in Zepto’s own numbers. Its net loss widened 177% to Rs 3,367.3 crore (roughly $400 million) in the year ended March 2025, from Rs 1,214.7 crore a year earlier, according to unaudited financials reported by MediaNama. Revenue nearly doubled over the same stretch, to Rs 9,668.8 crore from Rs 4,223.9 crore, helped by heavy discounting.

Zepto is also fighting from behind on scale. Blinkit, owned by Eternal, controls more than half of India’s quick-commerce market, according to a BofA Securities report cited by MediaNama, leaving Zepto and Swiggy’s Instamart to compete for second place. Zepto ran 1,139 dark stores across 66 cities as of its most recent disclosure, well short of Blinkit’s more than 1,800.

Swiggy Wrote This Playbook First

Zepto isn’t the first quick-commerce name to hit this wall. Swiggy went through nearly the same process in October 2024, ahead of its own listing.

Swiggy’s anchor book drew bids worth more than $15 billion, 25 times the $605 million portion set aside for big investors, from names including Norges, Fidelity International, Capital Group, BlackRock and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Even with that demand, Swiggy cut its own valuation by 25%, from an earlier estimate of $15 billion to $11.3 billion, ahead of its $1.35 billion IPO that November.

Zepto’s discount looks similar in shape, just steeper. It also arrives with two listed rivals already trading, giving public investors a far easier way to benchmark Zepto’s losses against Eternal and Swiggy’s own numbers than anyone had in 2024.

The Paper Trail Behind Zepto’s IPO

Zepto’s path to the exchange has been running for more than six months.

1. December 26, 2025: Zepto confidentially files its draft red herring prospectus with SEBI, targeting roughly Rs 11,000 crore.
2. January 2, 2026: The confidential pre-filing submission is formally completed with SEBI and the stock exchanges.
3. May 8, 2026: SEBI issues its observation letter, the clearance needed before the offer can move to its next stage.
4. May 11, 2026: Zepto appoints Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JM Financial as bankers on the deal.
5. June 9, 2026: Zepto files its updated draft prospectus, setting the fresh issue at Rs 8,010 crore alongside a share sale by existing investors.

That June filing also disclosed a compliance matter tied to the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) involving founders Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, noting that the requested documents had already been submitted to the Enforcement Directorate. It is a small wrinkle sitting alongside the valuation debate as the anchor round closes.

Why Is So Much Money Chasing 10-Minute Delivery?

Investors keep piling into Zepto, Blinkit and Instamart because India’s quick-commerce market grew from almost nothing in 2020 to an $11.3 billion business by last year, and brokerage estimates cited in Zepto’s own IPO materials project it could grow five to seven times over by 2030. That scale is why a sovereign fund is willing to hold all three competitors at the same time.

• $100 million: total quick-commerce sales in India back in 2020, before the category looked anything like it does now.
• $11.3 billion: quick commerce’s gross merchandise value in India during calendar 2025.
• 5 to 7 times: the growth quick commerce is projected to see by calendar 2030, per brokerage research cited in Zepto’s own filings.
• Over 50%: Blinkit’s share of India’s quick-commerce market, according to BofA Securities, leaving Zepto and Instamart to fight over second place.

Norges’ conviction here predates this specific IPO. Its Indian equity holdings tripled to roughly Rs 1.42 lakh crore since 2022, making it the second-largest foreign portfolio investor in the country after Singapore’s state fund, with its single biggest Indian position sitting in HDFC Bank.

Zepto has not confirmed a final price band. Bankers on the deal are working toward a listing window between July and September, according to people tracking the process, once the anchor book with Norges and Motilal Oswal is locked in.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is SEBI’s confidential pre-filing route?

It lets a company submit draft IPO papers to India’s Securities and Exchange Board privately, getting regulatory feedback and fine-tuning issue size, pricing and timing before anything becomes public. Fast-growing digital firms have increasingly favoured it over the traditional public filing.

How much has Zepto raised before this IPO?

Zepto has raised about $1.8 billion since its 2021 founding across multiple private rounds, according to regulatory disclosures reported in Indian business media, before counting whatever it raises through the public offering itself.

Who founded Zepto?

Zepto was founded in 2021 by Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra, two Stanford University dropouts, and reached unicorn status in August 2023 after a $200 million funding round valued the company at $1.4 billion.

Is Zepto the only Indian startup filing confidentially right now?

No. Travel platform MakeMyTrip has also filed for an Indian listing through the same confidential route, Moneycontrol reported, part of a broader shift among new-age Indian companies toward keeping early IPO paperwork out of public view until terms firm up.