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Happy Friday! Ecommerce players are beefing up in the quick commerce space. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch.
Also in the letter:
■ Rapido's new backer
■ Razorpay eyes cross-border growth
■ Gujarat attracts chip ecosystem
Flipkart, Amazon expand dark stores as profit check slows quick commerce majors
Ecommerce giants Flipkart and Amazon are rapidly ramping up their quick-commerce infrastructure, adding dark stores, even as early entrants in the sector are slowing expansion to focus on profitability.
Driving the news: Sources told us that Flipkart, which entered quick commerce in August 2024, has been adding about 100 dark stores each month this year, a pace expected to continue until June.
Meanwhile, Amazon is also scaling up its Now service, adding roughly two micro-warehouses a day. The company is expected to reach around 500 dark stores in the near term.
Building up: If the current pace of expansion continues, Flipkart could grow its network to about 1,200 dark stores, up from 750-800 currently, putting it roughly on par with Zepto and Swiggy's Instamart.
“Minutes is currently present in 70 cities and will expand to around 250 cities by June. It is recording 16-18% month-on-month growth in the number of orders per day, currently doing around 1,000-1,100 orders per day per dark store on average,” a person in the know said.
An Amazon spokesperson said that the company plans to continue expanding aggressively to serve more neighbourhoods “with the speed and selection customers expect from Amazon”.
Also Read: Competitive intensity increases as Amazon, Flipkart take on quick commerce players
Sector watch: The expansion by Amazon and Flipkart comes as early movers in quick commerce shift their focus towards profitability and operational efficiency.
Also Read: We're not late to quick commerce; seeing a big uptick among Prime members: Amit Agarwal
Iran war: Billions of dollars at risk for US tech companies
The escalating conflict in West Asia is putting billions of dollars in digital infrastructure across the Gulf at risk after Iran warned it could target facilities linked to major US technology companies.
High alert: On Wednesday, Iranian forces issued a warning that infrastructure associated with companies such as Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia and Oracle in the Middle East and Israel could become potential targets.
Experts say any disruption could ripple across the global technology and cloud services ecosystem.
What's at risk:
An additional $30 billion in projects is currently under construction.
Under attack: Indian multinationals also face indirect exposure. “Consumer and FMCG firms such as HUL or Nestlé rely heavily on globally hosted ERP (enterprise resource planning), supply‑chain, finance and analytics platforms,” said an executive at a global advisory firm.
Drone attacks on two AWS facilities on March 3 reportedly disrupted services for companies including Emirates NBD, Snowflake, Policybazaar UAE, banking apps, and the UAE stock exchange.
Also Read: AWS, Microsoft Azure may reroute West Asia data centre workload to India
Exclusive: US-based Accel Leaders Fund may join Rapido's $600 million funding round: sources
Aravind Sanka, founder, Rapido
Urban mobility startup Rapido has brought in Accel Leaders Fund, the US-based growth-stage vehicle of Accel, as part of its ongoing $550-600 million financing round, sources told us.
Details:
Racing ahead: Rapido has emerged as a strong challenger in India's urban mobility market.
Across vehicle formats, Rapido is estimated to hold around 50% market share on an aggregated basis.
The company is also attempting to extend its playbook into food delivery, where Swiggy and Zomato currently dominate.
Also Read: Rapido FY25 revenue jumps 44% to Rs 934 crore, loss narrows 30% to Rs 258 crore
Eternal infuses Rs 450 crore into quick commerce business Blinkit
Albinder Dhindsa, CEO, Eternal
Albinder Dhindsa-led Eternal has pumped Rs 450 crore in its quick-commerce arm Blinkit, marking its first such infusion this year, according to regulatory filings.
Driving the news: The capital injection comes as competition intensifies in the rapid-delivery segment. In 2025, Eternal invested Rs 2,600 crore into Blinkit: Rs 500 crore in January, Rs 1,500 crore in February, and Rs 500 crore in November.
Rival watch: Key rivals are also strengthening their war chests to stay competitive.
(L-R) Harshil Mathur, Shashank Kumar, cofounders, Razorpay
Razorpay eyes growth in cross-border biz: Digital payment major Razorpay is focusing on deploying its payments stack to large global brands in a bid to grow the cross-border business, which has better gross margins. The platform already serves international clients such as Replit, Airbnb, Decathlon, and McDonald's, among others.
Chip firms tap Gujarat govt: Semiconductor equipment makers, memory storage suppliers and companies that specialise in chip packaging and testing have approached the Gujarat government, requesting setting up of an exclusive free trade zone and shared warehousing infrastructure for the sector, people in the know told us.
Induction stove tops sell out:Induction cooktops are selling like hotcakes on ecommerce and quick commerce platforms after a shortage of commercial gas cylinders triggered panic buying by retail consumers.
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ Google Maps gets chatty with a new Gemini-powered interface ( Wired)
■ The AI-driven ‘kill chain’ transforming how the US wages war ( FT)
■ Western AI models “fail spectacularly” in farms and forests abroad ( Rest of World)
Also in the letter:
■ Rapido's new backer
■ Razorpay eyes cross-border growth
■ Gujarat attracts chip ecosystem
Flipkart, Amazon expand dark stores as profit check slows quick commerce majors
Ecommerce giants Flipkart and Amazon are rapidly ramping up their quick-commerce infrastructure, adding dark stores, even as early entrants in the sector are slowing expansion to focus on profitability.
Driving the news: Sources told us that Flipkart, which entered quick commerce in August 2024, has been adding about 100 dark stores each month this year, a pace expected to continue until June.
Meanwhile, Amazon is also scaling up its Now service, adding roughly two micro-warehouses a day. The company is expected to reach around 500 dark stores in the near term.
Building up: If the current pace of expansion continues, Flipkart could grow its network to about 1,200 dark stores, up from 750-800 currently, putting it roughly on par with Zepto and Swiggy's Instamart.
“Minutes is currently present in 70 cities and will expand to around 250 cities by June. It is recording 16-18% month-on-month growth in the number of orders per day, currently doing around 1,000-1,100 orders per day per dark store on average,” a person in the know said.
An Amazon spokesperson said that the company plans to continue expanding aggressively to serve more neighbourhoods “with the speed and selection customers expect from Amazon”.
Also Read: Competitive intensity increases as Amazon, Flipkart take on quick commerce players
Sector watch: The expansion by Amazon and Flipkart comes as early movers in quick commerce shift their focus towards profitability and operational efficiency.
- Zepto and Instamart operate around 1,100-1,150 dark stores each.
- Market leader Blinkit runs about 2,100 dark stores, and plans to increase that to 3,000 by March 2027.
Also Read: We're not late to quick commerce; seeing a big uptick among Prime members: Amit Agarwal
Iran war: Billions of dollars at risk for US tech companies
The escalating conflict in West Asia is putting billions of dollars in digital infrastructure across the Gulf at risk after Iran warned it could target facilities linked to major US technology companies.
High alert: On Wednesday, Iranian forces issued a warning that infrastructure associated with companies such as Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia and Oracle in the Middle East and Israel could become potential targets.
Experts say any disruption could ripple across the global technology and cloud services ecosystem.
What's at risk:
- The Gulf region hosts more than 70 data centres with an estimated 557-738 megawatts of live IT capacity.
- The infrastructure includes 10 cloud regions run by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle, and Alibaba.
Under attack: Indian multinationals also face indirect exposure. “Consumer and FMCG firms such as HUL or Nestlé rely heavily on globally hosted ERP (enterprise resource planning), supply‑chain, finance and analytics platforms,” said an executive at a global advisory firm.
Drone attacks on two AWS facilities on March 3 reportedly disrupted services for companies including Emirates NBD, Snowflake, Policybazaar UAE, banking apps, and the UAE stock exchange.
Also Read: AWS, Microsoft Azure may reroute West Asia data centre workload to India
Exclusive: US-based Accel Leaders Fund may join Rapido's $600 million funding round: sources
Urban mobility startup Rapido has brought in Accel Leaders Fund, the US-based growth-stage vehicle of Accel, as part of its ongoing $550-600 million financing round, sources told us.
Details:
- The round is expected to value Rapido at around $3 billion, ET had reported in September.
- It includes both primary and secondary transactions.
- Dutch technology investor Prosus is leading the round, with Accel India and WestBridge Capital also participating.
- Prosus and Accel India have acquired a stake in Rapido from the food and grocery delivery firm Swiggy, which previously held about 12% in the bike-taxi company.
Racing ahead: Rapido has emerged as a strong challenger in India's urban mobility market.
- According to BofA Global Research, citing Sensor Tower data, the platform recorded 70–80 million monthly active users in February, compared with about 40 million for Uber and under 30 million for Ola.
Across vehicle formats, Rapido is estimated to hold around 50% market share on an aggregated basis.
The company is also attempting to extend its playbook into food delivery, where Swiggy and Zomato currently dominate.
Also Read: Rapido FY25 revenue jumps 44% to Rs 934 crore, loss narrows 30% to Rs 258 crore
Eternal infuses Rs 450 crore into quick commerce business Blinkit
Albinder Dhindsa-led Eternal has pumped Rs 450 crore in its quick-commerce arm Blinkit, marking its first such infusion this year, according to regulatory filings.
Driving the news: The capital injection comes as competition intensifies in the rapid-delivery segment. In 2025, Eternal invested Rs 2,600 crore into Blinkit: Rs 500 crore in January, Rs 1,500 crore in February, and Rs 500 crore in November.
Rival watch: Key rivals are also strengthening their war chests to stay competitive.
- Swiggy raised Rs 10,000 crore through a qualified institutional placement (QIP) in December 2025, just over a year after its IPO.
- Zepto has filed confidential draft papers with Sebi for a public listing.
Razorpay eyes growth in cross-border biz: Digital payment major Razorpay is focusing on deploying its payments stack to large global brands in a bid to grow the cross-border business, which has better gross margins. The platform already serves international clients such as Replit, Airbnb, Decathlon, and McDonald's, among others.
Chip firms tap Gujarat govt: Semiconductor equipment makers, memory storage suppliers and companies that specialise in chip packaging and testing have approached the Gujarat government, requesting setting up of an exclusive free trade zone and shared warehousing infrastructure for the sector, people in the know told us.
Induction stove tops sell out:
Global Picks We Are Reading
■ Google Maps gets chatty with a new Gemini-powered interface ( Wired)
■ The AI-driven ‘kill chain’ transforming how the US wages war ( FT)
■ Western AI models “fail spectacularly” in farms and forests abroad ( Rest of World)
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