Instacart has confidentially filed for an IPO, as the company looks to expand further. However, Instacart is yet to provide any details.
Online personal shopping assistant Instacart recently filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The grocery delivery and pick-up service platform said it confidentially filed a draft registration statement with the US regulatory body late Wednesday.
What We Know So Far on Instacart IPO
Instacart’s IPO aspiration comes amid some struggling among tech stocks in the US. This has been mostly triggered by sweeping investor sell-offs as external forces weigh heavy. Some of these forces include rising inflation – and the accompanying hike in interest rates, the Ukraine war, as well as industry supply chain constraints.
Instacart, the largest online grocery delivery platform in the US, did not offer any insight into its IPO plans in a statement. However, insider sources suggest that a listing could happen sooner than expected. In addition, according to these sources, that may be this year – although deliberations are still ongoing. Furthermore, there are also suggestions that Instacart could choose to remain private at the end of the day.
On its IPO agenda, Instacart is working with banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. In addition, people familiar with the matter also suggested that more banks may later join the team. As of press time, neither Goldman Sachs nor JPMorgan had confirmed their involvement in the development.
Highlights of Instacart’s Journey Since Pandemic Outbreak
In March last year, Instacart cart raised $265 million at a $39 billion valuation. At the time, this placed the online grocery delivery platform among the most valuable venture-backed companies in the US. However, Instacart had to slash its valuation by approximately 40% to $24 billion a year later due to the tech stock plunge. One of the benefits of this move is that the company can now offer stock awards to new and current employees at more attractive prices. Commenting on the slash, an Instacart spokesperson suggested that sustainability is crucial. Part of an issued statement read:
“Markets go up and down, but we are focused on Instacart’s long term opportunity to power the future of grocery with our partners.”
Instacart has gone through a series of ups and downs in the last few years. Initially struggling with a challenging business model going into 2020, the company benefited immensely from the pandemic. This happened quite naturally as the shopping patterns of countless consumers switched from brick-and-mortar stores to online grocery orders. However, as the Covid virus tapered out, Instacart began to experience a systematic decline in growth and profitability. Regardless, the San Francisco-based company maintains that its business outlook is still strong.
Instacart also seeks to expand beyond its primary marketplace with a series of fresh initiatives. This week the online grocery service announced a software suite to sell to supermarkets that will help grocers offer 15-minute delivery. In addition, this service will also come alongside a fulfillment service dubbed Carrot Warehouses.
Tolu is a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast based in Lagos. He likes to demystify crypto stories to the bare basics so that anyone anywhere can understand without too much background knowledge.
When he’s not neck-deep in crypto stories, Tolu enjoys music, loves to sing and is an avid movie lover.
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