‘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.

Updated on: Mar 5, 2025, 07:21:41 IST

By Sanya Jain

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

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.

Aadit Palicha dropped out to Stanford to focus on Zepto.

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.

“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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanya Jain
Sanya Jain is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Digital. She has nearly a decade of experience in covering offbeat stories that speak to the everyday experience - from viral videos to human interest copies that spark conversation. Her interests stretch across business, pop culture, social media trends, entertainment and global affairs. Before joining Hindustan Times, Sanya spent two years with Moneycontrol and five years with NDTV. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and a master’s in journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai. Sanya has a sharp eye for spotting emerging trends and looking for newsworthy angles to elevate viral posts into meaningful narratives. She was the first one, for example, to cover Narayana Murthy’s remark on 70-hour work weeks that sparked a national conversation. She is equally at ease writing about business leaders as about the common man, about issues of national importance and memes that amuse social media. Sanya enjoys speaking with content creators, newsmakers and entrepreneurs to transform everyday moments into engaging, slice-of-life stories that resonate with readers. When she is not working, Sanya can be found curled up with a good book. Born and raised in Lucknow, she has spent the last several years in Delhi. She is deeply interested in animal welfare and now spends a lot of her time running after her destructive orange cat.Read More

Discover the latest Trending News, viral videos, social media stories and unusual events from India and around the world. Stay updated with the topics everyone is talking about.