'They Are Nervous': Zepto Founder Aadit Palicha Alleges Smear Campaign By Rival Firm’s CFO

In an unexpected development, Zepto founder and CEO Aadit Palicha on Sunday alleged that a rival company’s CFO has launched a smear campaign against the popular quick commerce platform.

Without naming the rival brand, Palicha claimed in a LinkedIn post that the CFO was spreading false data, contacting investors to share baseless allegations and leaking manipulated figures to journalists.

Palicha also claimed that the rival firm’s CFO was using paid bots on social media to damage Zepto’s reputation.

“Candidly, this episode is below the stature expected of the CFO of a high-quality company, and makes it obvious that they are starting to get nervous about how fast Zepto's EBITDA is improving,” Palicha’s post read.

Dismissing the alleged smear campaign, he reaffirmed confidence in Zepto’s performance and shared data to counter the misinformation.

He stated that Zepto's monthly GOV grew from Rs 750 crore in May 2024 to Rs 2,400 crore in May 2025, while EBITDA improved by 2,000 basis points and cash burn dropped by around 65% since January 2025.

“At the same time, even as our EBITDA improved sharply from January 2025 to May 2025, we have still grown roughly 20% in GOV in that period. That represents an average 4% to 5% month-on-month growth,” he said, adding that Zepto’s “majority” of dark stores are expected to go fully EBITDA positive by “next quarter.”

Additionally, Palicha emphasised Zepto holds about Rs 7,445 crore in net cash as of the beginning of the current quarter. He noted that with the company’s current burn rate, this provides Zepto with a multi-year runway.

“My hope is that the CFO in question stops this activity. I'm okay with healthy/aggressive competitive talk, but lies are not acceptable,” the billionaire CEO said.

Palicha’s affirmation on Zepto’s performance comes as the company is planning its initial public offering. The Bengaluru-based startup, founded in 2021, seeks to go public later this year. Zepto’s prominent rivals in the hyper-competitive, low-margin grocery delivery space include Swiggy’s quick commerce arm, Instamart, and Zomato-owned Blinkit.