Copyright thehindubusinessline
Quick commerce platform Zepto is witnessing a wave of senior leadership exits, with the company on Wednesday confirming the departure of Chandan Rungta, chief executive of its meat business Relish. “We made a few conscious directional changes across certain business verticals. Chandan Rungta’s last working day with Zepto was in September, and we wish him the very best in his future endeavours,” a company spokesperson said. Rungta reported to Vinay Dhanani, President at Zepto, who will continue to lead the division. The departures extend beyond Rungta. Apoorv Pandey, senior vice president of strategy, and Chandresh Dedhia, vice president and head of information technology, have also left the company. These exits come just weeks after Shashank Shekhar Sharma, Zepto Cafe’s chief experience officer, departed to join gourmet retail chain FoodStories as its chief executive officer. Relish, Zepto’s private-label meat brand, competes with established players like FreshToHome and Licious in the online meat delivery space. According to a person familiar with the details, the segment generated monthly revenue of ₹50-60 crore in September, though October saw a relatively weaker performance due to the festive season. On an annualised basis, the segment is on track to close upwards of ₹500 crore in revenue by year-end. Broader leadership churn The leadership churn at the Aadit Palicha-led startup has been building over recent weeks. Senior Director-Brand Anant Rastogi left three weeks ago, while business heads Suraj Sipani and Vijay Bandhiya, along with director of strategy Roshan Shaikh, had earlier exited the firm. Following these departures, Zepto President Vinay Dhanani is expected to oversee both the company’s private-label operations and Zepto Cafe. In October, Zepto raised approximately $450 million (around ₹4,000 crore) in a new funding round led by California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and existing investor General Catalyst. The round valued the company at $7 billion, up from $5 billion the previous year. Existing investors, including Avenir, Avra, Lightspeed, Glade Brook, The Stepstone Group, and Nexus Venture Partners, also participated. The company has now raised close to $3 billion in total, with nearly $2 billion raised in the past 18 months as it competes with larger rivals to become the market leader in India’s rapid grocery-delivery space. Published on November 5, 2025
