‘Deepinder Goyal started Zomato when I was 5,’ reveals Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha
Zepto's Aadit Palicha has revealed he was only 5-years-old when Goyal launched Zomato.
Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha has said he has immense respect for Deepinder Goyal while refuting the Zomato CEO's claims about his startup burning money. In a LinkedIn post shared this afternoon, Palicha revealed he was only 5-years-old when Goyal launched Zomato.
The co-founder and CEO of Zepto refuted Deepinder Goyal’s claim that his quick commerce company is burning ₹2,500 crore per quarter. “This statement is verifiably untrue and it will be clear when we publicly file our financial statements,” Palicha, who is now in his early 20s, said in his LinkedIn post.
Palicha’s clarification comes after Deepinder Goyal told the Economics Times that the quick commerce sector in India is burning ₹5,000 crore per quarter, of which Zepto is responsible for more than half.
Goyal said that Zomato-owned Blinkit is responsible for burning only 2 to 3% of that figure. "We think the total burn for all companies in quick commerce is around ₹5,000 crore per quarter, conservatively speaking. Substantially more than half of this is by Zepto...compared to this, we're burning very low numbers,” the founder of Zomato told the Economic Times.
Zepto CEO refutes claim
Zepto’s Aadit Palicha refuted Goyal’s claim in a LinkedIn post this afternoon, saying that the figure was erroneous. He made it clear that he respected Goyal as an entrepreneur and suggested that Goyal’s words may have been taken out of context or that he may have been mistaken.
{{/usCountry}}Zepto’s Aadit Palicha refuted Goyal’s claim in a LinkedIn post this afternoon, saying that the figure was erroneous. He made it clear that he respected Goyal as an entrepreneur and suggested that Goyal’s words may have been taken out of context or that he may have been mistaken.
{{/usCountry}}“In an Economic Times article today, Deepinder Goyal - whom I deeply respect as an entrepreneur - made an inaccurate statement about Zepto,” said Palicha.
“His words were that Quick Commerce was burning 5,000 Crores per quarter of which "substantially more than half of this is by Zepto" - implying that we are losing substantially more than 2,500 Crores per quarter,” the Zepto co-founder continued.
“This statement is verifiably untrue and it will be clear when we publicly file our financial statements. However, I know Deepinder, and I know he has only good intentions; this quote could have been taken out of context or said as an honest mistake,” he said.
“I was 5 years old”
Palicha revealed that he was all of five years old when Deepinder Goyal started Zomato. He said that the Gurugram-based entrepreneur had become a role model for Indian entrepreneurs.
“Deepinder started Zomato when I was 5 years old and he has become a role model for the Indian startup ecosystem,” Palicha wrote on LinkedIn.
“I have personally read all of his blogs and it's a privilege to learn from and compete with Zomato. Our genuine intention is to build the Indian startup ecosystem together in good-faith, and build a world-class product for the Indian consumer,” he added.
Zomato was founded in 2008 by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah. Initially, it was called 'Foodiebay' until it rebranded to 'Zomato' in 2010. On the other hand, Zepto was launched by Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra in 2021, after the duo dropped out of Stanford to focus on the startup.
