Instacart Reports Growth in IPO Filing Revenue
Grocery delivery app Instacart on Friday reported a 31% jump in sales for the first half of the year as it filed its IPO filing in New York, setting the stage for one of the most anticipated IPOs in recent years.
The development comes 15 months after Instacart confidentially filed its IPO filings, a move that usually heralds an upcoming listing.
The San Francisco-based company originally planned to go public in the fourth quarter of last year, but postponed its plans as a sell-off in tech stocks and the Federal Reserve’s unrelenting rate hikes caused shares to plummet.
Instacart gave a detailed look at its finances for the first time, saying its revenue rose 31% to $1.48 billion in the six months ended June 30.
The fact that the company is generating profits could also help it appeal to picky IPO investors, who have favored profitable companies over ambitious but loss-making startups since last year.
The company’s net income for the six-month period was $242 million compared to a loss of $74 million a year earlier.
Founded in 2012, Instacart is led by Fidji Simo, who was previously the head of the Facebook app. The filing also states that her annual compensation in 2022 was $1.5 million.
The IPOs of Instacart and SoftBank Group-backed chip designer Arm are expected to revive the US IPO market, which has already seen some bounces this year after a 2022 drought, amid bets that that the Fed could steer the economy in a “soft” landing.”
Excluding special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), $10.3 billion has been raised through 77 IPOs so far this year, nearly double the amount for the same period in 2022, according to Dealogic data.
“I think we will see more companies starting their (IPO) process in 2024, then a healthy IPO market will return,” said Mike Bellin, IPO Services Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers US.
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are the lead subscribers to the offering, Instacart said, adding that its shares would be listed on Nasdaq under the symbol “CART.”
Long road to IPO
Instacart’s arduous journey to a Nasdaq listing reportedly resulted in the company lowering its internal valuation to as much as $10 billion in December 2022, down 74% from the $39 billion price it was asking for in its last financing round more than two years ago.
According to one report, the company increased its valuation by 18% in April.
Instacart was considering a direct listing, sources previously told Reuters. Unlike an IPO, a direct listing does not pre-sell shares and allows investors to sell their shares directly to the public.
In March 2021, the company brought Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman, a software industry veteran who has been behind some major IPOs, to its board of directors.
The company filed for the IPO under the name “Maplebear,” under which it was incorporated.
