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In focus
- The ceiling on India’s quick commerce boom
- Who’s raising? Our startup fundraising tracker has the scoop
Hello reader,
Last month, I was in Noida, just outside New Delhi, for a wedding. Even though I was staying at a hotel, I found myself ordering one thing after another on quick commerce apps – from safety pins to face wash to diapers and a coloring book for my toddler.
The habit had travelled with me from Bengaluru to Noida.
That, perhaps, is the strongest case for quick commerce in India. What started as a novelty has become a consumer habit and, increasingly, a piece of retail infrastructure, as today’s top story explores.
This is one reason investors keep pouring money into the sector even as losses mount. New players are still raising funds, while established ones such as Zepto face the public-market test.
The company already had to pause its IPO plans. Amazon, meanwhile, is expanding its quick delivery network to 300 cities.
Investors bet these companies are building more than a delivery business. The firms are establishing a retail channel that can eventually be monetized through advertising, subscriptions, and product placement. Zepto’s ad revenue, for instance, jumped 151% to US$171 million in FY26.
But the bigger question is this: Can this rapidly expanding retail infrastructure become a profitable business rather than one that backers keep subsidizing in the hope that it will?
Samreen Ahmad, Journalist
Top Story
Quick commerce is losing money, but investors keep coming
Image credit: Ulla
Besides quick commerce becoming a piece of retail infrastructure, there’s a simpler reason investors keep coming back: They have seen the size of the opportunity and don’t want to miss what comes next.
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