Instacart

Instacart has left us IPO nerds feeling whiplashed. Late last week, Reuters reported that the American grocery delivery and technology company might probably shelve its IPO until next year. The richly valued startup was poised to become the splashiest public offering of the year in the United States, but now it appears we won’t get to see the implications of the IPO’s reception for at least a few more months. Instacart going public is notable not just due to its own corporate history. The company raised huge sums, grew immensely during the pandemic and is in the midst of an expanding into advertising and software. The IPO was also set to be a critical affair for other, yet-private unicorns, as it would have provided some indication of how the public market felt about at least one of their peers. Sadly, we are likely bereft of new unicorn liquidity information for the rest of calendar 2022. While disappointing, this turn of events does teach us a few things. (Instacart declined to comment on its IPO timing, but did reveal some juicy info on its Q3 performance — details below.) The Exchange explores startups, markets and money. Read it every morning on ZebethMedia+ or get The Exchange newsletter every Saturday. Recall that Instacart got a new, lower 409a (internal) valuation earlier this month. So we are seeing the company delay its IPO despite what we could consider to be a lower hurdle ahead of it — in terms of pricing, at least.