Pre-IPO pedia | Instacart, a hot tech IPO to hit the Wall Street in 2022
As one of the most anticipated IPOs of 2022, Instacart IPO rumors are spreading.
It is reported that grocery delivery service provider Instacart is delaying its IPO plans last year as it looks to accelerate some of its services for grocery retailers, according to The Information.
Business Overview
Instacart, founded in 2012 by a former Amazon employee Apoorva Mehta, is an American company that operates a grocery delivery and pick-up service in the United States and Canada.
The company offers its services via a website and mobile app. The service allows customers to order groceries from participating retailers with the shopping being done by a personal shopper.
Apoorva was born in India and studied engineering at the University of Waterloo. He previously worked at BlackBerry, Qualcomm, and then Amazon as a supply chain engineer, where he developed fulfillment systems to move packages from Amazon's warehouses to customers' homes.
Apoorva was a participant in Y Combinator's Summer 2012 batch, which eventually led to the creation of Instacart.
Currently, Instacart is available in 5,500 cities in North America. It’s estimated that the app can be used by 85% of U.S. households and more than 70% of Canadian households.
Instacart is also a rising ad player. Its advertising revenue coming from Instacart's retail media network also made a significant contribution to its Q3 revenues and will continue to be a major focus going forward.
The adoption of grocery delivery has skyrocketed during the pandemic as consumer demand for grocery and convenience delivery and pickup services surged. The past two years ushered in a new normal, changing the way people shop for groceries and goods.
Valuation and IPO rumors
According to a report last year from CNBC, Instacart has been preparing for a highly anticipated public debut, building out its C-suite and board over the past few months. Goldman Sachs will reportedly lead the IPO.
At the end of 2021, it is reported that Instacart delays IPO plans to focus on broadening services, including its retail media network.
According to The Information’s reporting, Instacart’s 2021 full-year revenues should rise 10% over its robust 2020 pandemic-fueled growth, hitting at least $1.65 billion.
In October 2020, Instacart raised $200 million at a valuation of $17.7 billion in a financing round led by Valiant Capital and D1 Capital Partners.
As of its most recent funding round, in March 2021, Instacart raised $265 million at a valuation of $39 billion from existing venture capital investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia and D1 Capital Partners, as well as existing institutional investors like Fidelity and T.Rowe Price.
It's the second time the company's valuation has doubled since the start of the Covid pandemic.
At that time, according to Pitchbook, Instacart become the second largest U.S.-based unicorn, behind SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space start-up that’s valued at $74 billion. As of 2022 February, it still ranks top 10 unicorns worldwide.
Mooers, what's your opinion about this famous grocery delivery unicorn? Would you invest in Instacart?
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70652549 : C
71384273 : For sure. Use them often. Great app. easy to use excellent service...
71691393 : I would. Use it all the time for my. Mother who lives a distance away.
71315479 : Not optimistic, I have only used it twice, the tip is very high, prices rise, can not afford to use. It is difficult to increase the number of users.
robert thompson9 : I use them and work for them. they are awsome. bring on an ipo want some of that.
loyal Mole223 : They are similar to Uber. The only advantage is they don’t pay insurance to those senders. I think currently they worth less than 20b.
AmyNW : absolutely! I use Instacart regularly. I am an Instacart shopper but I also use them to deliver my groceries as well sometimes
rennymc : Definitely. I was one of the first employees when it opened in Boston and it was operating out of a hole in the wall tiny office in Cambridge, MA in 2014. It’s about time they went public.
71315479 loyal Mole223 : You are absolutely right. I would also like to say that they buy on their behalf and Uber drives on their behalf. Walmart Inc and Costco in the United States have a store in every city. Many people prefer physical stores to choose for themselves.
70527669 : get that
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