Instacart Inc. announced that it has filed to go public on a confidential basis, a long-awaited move that comes after the business recently reduced its valuation by 40%.
The grocery delivery service located in San Francisco announced late Wednesday that it had submitted a draft registration statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission. There was no more reaction from the corporation.
The filing comes as Instacart’s growth slows after a pandemic-fueled surge in which customers used the company’s app to get groceries online rather than going to real stores. In March 2021, the company raised more than $265 million from investors at a $39 billion valuation.
It grew to become the largest grocery delivery service, with customers including supermarket behemoths Kroger Co. and Walmart Inc. Instacart has begun delivering from nonfood merchants such as Best Buy Co. and expanded its advertising operation in an effort to improve sales and offset delivery costs.
Instacart appointed Fidji Simo, a senior executive at Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc., as its new CEO in 2021. Apoorva Mehta, co-founder and former CEO of Instacart, was appointed executive chairman of the board, stating at the time that Ms. Simo would assist the firm in going public and expanding its operations.
According to people familiar with the subject, Mr. Mehta and Ms. Simo discussed potential agreements with competitors DoorDash Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. last year.
Bloomberg News first reported on the IPO filing.
Instacart’s business has been tumultuous recently, as competition has increased and consumer patterns have shifted as the pandemic has passed. According to research firm 1010data Services LLC, Instacart’s sales surged by 330 percent from 2019 to 2020, but only by 15 percent in 2021.
In March, Instacart informed staff that its valuation would be reduced by 40% to $24 billion due to market conditions. Ms. Simo informed staff at the time that the valuation shift had no impact on the company’s ambitions to go public.
Executives have also left. Carolyn Everson, who joined Instacart as president from Meta Platforms last year, left the company around four months later. Seth Dallaire, the company’s chief revenue officer, left in October to join Walmart Inc.
