Zepto IPO: Unlisted shares tumble as listing plans stall; experts flag valuation reset

Unlisted shares of Zepto Ltd have taken a sharp hit as the quick commerce player has put its IPO plans on hold for now. The company is said to be considering a pre-IPO placement of Rs 1,000 crore through a pre-IPO placement, suggest some media report, privy to the matter.

According to the dealers of the unlisted market, unlisted shares of Zepto have plunged to Rs 23-24 levels. The stock was trading around Rs 30-32 mark about a month ago, while it has cracked more than 50 per cent from its high around Rs 58. The stock is reported to hit lows of Rs 21-22 a couple days ago, when the IPO plans were halted internally.

Hitesh Dharawat, co-founder of Mumbai-based Dharawat Securities said that major institutions are not willing to give premium valuation at high cash burn rate with no clear path of profitability. "Majority of investors are currently trapped in Zepto, where the stock is still trading at premium and much below their buying levels," he said.

One should note that IPO- bound companies may raise up to 20 per cent of their proposed fresh issue through pre-IPO placement as per the SEBI rules. However, any such placement, if undertaken, reduces the fresh issue size in the IPO. If Zepto proceeds with this placement, its fresh issue size will also be trimmed in the similar fashion.

One should understand that cash-burn may give a high growth rate but warrants caution over valuations as investors will demand profitability at some point. There is no dearth of case studies, when a company is not able to deliver a positive balance sheet for long, and has been punished, Dharawat cautions, adding that it will give a positive boost for existing players.

According to reports, Zepto was initially planning to raise around Rs 8,000 crore but has since then trimmed its IPO size to around Rs 5,000-6,000 crore. Sources told Business Today that domestic mutual funds were valuing Zepto around $2.5-$3 billion  (Rs 24,000-28,000 crore) post money, sharply lower than its initial plans at $5 billion. The company raised funding at a $7 billion valuation nearly 6 months ago.

Even at Rs 24 per share, Zepto commands a total valuation of more than Rs 30,000 crore. To recall, Zepto reported a net loss on both net and operation levels. Zepto was burning over Rs 900 crore each quarter and was left with just three quarters of cash which was a cause of worry among incoming investors.

The company processed an average of 17.5 lakh orders per day during the year and had 1,139 stores as of March 31, 2026. Its annual transacting user base stood at nearly 48 million. Zepto handled around 210 million orders, translating into about 23.3 lakh orders per day, as of March 2026 quarter.

Piyush Jhunjhunwala, Founder & CEO, Stockify calls it a startup valuations concern, which is a mismatch between private market expectations and institutional investors’ payment capacity. This indicates that strong revenue growth does not guarantee premium valuations.

Zepto has achieved a considerable scale. It has reported considerable growth in revenues in FY26  and has managed to process more than 640 million orders, with around 48 million registered users," Jhunjhunwala adds. "It is becoming increasingly clear how important profitability visibility has become in the transition of a company from the private market to the public one."