Meet India’s youngest millionaire, Kaivalya Vohra: the 19-year-old Stanford dropout co-founded delivery app Zepto in 2021 – and he already has a net worth of US$120 million

Dec 31 , 2022

At just 19, Kaivalya Vohra is officially India’s youngest self-made multimillionaire. Photo: @kaivalyavohra/Instagram

It’s no mean feat to find yourself on the IIFL Hurun India Rich List alongside Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani at 19, but that’s exactly what Stanford dropout Kaivalya Vohra did this year

When his studies went online during the Covid-19 pandemic, Vohra and his friend Aadit Palicha took a gap year, founded grocery delivery app Zepto, and are now among India’s richest people

Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani’s statuses as India’s wealthiest individuals may be secure for now, but no one stays on top forever. There’s a slew of up-and-coming entrepreneurs making names for themselves … and a lot of money in the process.

Kaivalya Vohra is worth an impressive US$120 million. Photo: @kaivalyavohra/Instagram

One such individual is Kaivalya Vohra, who was featured on the IIFL Hurun India Rich List 2022. But what made him stand out from other names was his age: Vohra is just 19 years old, making him the youngest on the list, according to India’s The Economic Times.

In 2021, the teen co-founded grocery delivery start-up Zepto with his business partner Aadit Palicha. Today, Vohra has a reported net worth of 1,000 crores (US$120 million), according to NDTV.

So, what do we know so far about this multimillionaire whizz kid?

He’s a Stanford dropout

Kaivalya Vohra knows he gave up a life of partying and fun as a student to pursue his dreams, but says he’s OK with it. Photo: @kaivalyavohra/Instagram

Initially, Vohra and Palicha were studying computer science together at Stanford University, according to their LinkedIn profiles, but when the pandemic hit and their classes went online, the pair decided to take a gap year to pursue other ventures – and the challenges around online grocery delivery piqued their interest.

The pair eventually launched the online grocery shopping app Zepto, which delivers groceries straight to users’ doorsteps within just 10 minutes. It has since grown into a burgeoning company.

In less than two years, Kaivalya Vohra and Aadit Palicha found themselves on the same rich list as Mukesh Ambani. Photo: @kaivalyavohra/Instagram

“By the time our gap year ended, we had already raised quite a lot of capital and were scaling beyond Mumbai. It was a no-brainer at that point if we would like to pursue our studies or scale up Zepto,” he told Business Standard.