- General
- November 13, 2020
- 5 minutes read
Instacart Eyes Soon IPO
Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta.Photo credit: TechCrunch, licensed under CC BY 2.0 Fresh off a $200 million top-up funding round, grocery delivery…
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| Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta. Photo credit: TechCrunch, licensed under CC BY 2.0 |
Fresh off a $200 million top-up funding round, grocery delivery company Instacart is now eyeing a possible public listing and has hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to lead a planned listing, according to a report by CNBC. Instacart is said to be targeting a valuation close to $30 billion on the public markets, compared to a current private valuation of $17.7 billion when it last raised funding.
Instacart recently scored an apparent win when the US state of California voted in favor of a ballot that upheld the status of app-based delivery drivers and gig workers usually used by firms like Instacart as independent contractors. That ballot, known as Proposition 22, grants app-based transport and delivery companies like Instacart a special exception to the Assembly Bill 5 ruling that was passed early this year requiring companies in California to classify independent contractors as employees with greater labor protections.
Prop 22 was supported by over $205 million in contributions from major on-demand companies including Instacart, Postmates, Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash, making it the most expensive ballot ever in California’s history. It passed with 58% of the votes on the 5th of November, 2020.
Instacart is a well-funded company with $2.4 billion raised so far. It makes sense that the company could now be seeking an exit on the public markets after eight years as a private company, especially in the light of a coronavirus pandemic that has widely boosted its business. Instacart’s order volume has surged 500% this year as people flocked to online grocery purchases in order to avoid widespread physical contact and potential exposure to the coronavirus.
Instacart was founded in 2012 and has been led since that time by its co-founder Apoorva Mehta. The company has raised funding from some of the biggest names in the tech world, among them DST Global, General Catalyst, D1 Capital Partners, T. Rowe Price, and Andreessen Horowitz.
