Zepto Forays Into E-Pharmacy With 10-Min Medicine Delivery Service

The entry into e-pharmacy brings it into direct competition with players such as Tata 1mg, PharmEasy, Apollo 24/7, and other quick commerce platforms that have ventured into medical deliveries.

Quick commerce platform Zepto has officially entered the online pharmacy segment with the launch of Zepto Pharmacy, which promises to deliver prescription and over-the-counter medicines within 10 minutes.

The service has gone live in select parts of Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, and Hyderabad.

Zepto Co-Founder and CEO Aadit Palicha confirmed the development in a LinkedIn post, noting that the company had spent 12 months refining the model before this formal rollout.

“Over the past 12 months, the team has worked tirelessly to perfect the customer experience, supply chain, and compliance at a small scale,”

Palicha said. “Our objective is to keep operational standards extremely high and not scale too rapidly given the complexity of this category.”

This expansion marks a significant diversification for Zepto, which until now has focused on 10-minute grocery delivery. The entry into e-pharmacy brings it into direct competition with players such as Tata 1mg, PharmEasy, Apollo 24/7, and other quick commerce platforms that have ventured into medical deliveries.

Palicha acknowledged the higher operational complexity in this category, citing prescription validation, temperature-sensitive logistics, and regulatory compliance as key challenges.

“If we execute well, we believe this service can seriously improve the lives of millions of customers across the country and help make important medicines easier to access when we need them the most,” he added.

Zepto Pharmacy’s launch follows a broader trend in healthcare-focused quick commerce. Competitor Blinkit recently launched prescription delivery and a 10-minute ambulance service in Gurugram, further intensifying competition in this space.

The launch also aligns with Zepto’s aggressive expansion strategy and long-term profitability roadmap. In FY24, Zepto reported ₹4,454 crore in revenue, more than doubling from ₹2,026 crore in FY23, a 120% year-on-year jump.

However, its losses stood at ₹1,248.6 crore, down slightly from the previous fiscal.

Reportedly, Zepto has raised $1.95 billion across 10 funding rounds from 71 investors, including Motilal Oswal Private Wealth, Nexus Venture Partners, General Catalyst, Lightspeed India, DST Global Partners, and strategic investors like Mankind Pharma and MapmyIndia. Its current valuation stands at $5.8 billion.

The launch of Zepto Pharmacy signals the company’s next big bet, as it aims to turn profitable by FY26 and considers a potential IPO by late 2026.

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