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Grocery delivery company Instacart said Wednesday it will test the waters for an IPO, despite the recent jolt in tech shares and the company’s own turmoil over the past year.
The company said it has submitted documents for the so-called confidential filing, which means it does not yet have to disclose specific data about the company. The filing doesn’t require Instacart to go ahead with the initial public offering, but it’s considered a big step toward one.
If Instacart goes public, will do it at a risky time. Fearing inflation and the war in Ukraine, Wall Street has been cold on tech stocks in recent months, with the number of IPOs down 80 percent as of May 4 from a year ago, according to Renaissance Capital.
Bringing customers at home together with customers who collect and deliver from stores from markets, Instacart dealt with their own problems. in March, The company lowered its valuation. From $40 billion to $24 billion, it’s a rare move for a private startup. Some employees said the change meant a pay cut.
As Covid cases climbed in 2020, the company saw an increase in sales and revenue. But momentum slackened in the second quarter of 2021 as more people were vaccinated and returned to their normal shopping habits.
Since that time, the company is looking for a direction. Over the years, he’s tried to become more tech providers to the grocery partners he’s worked with, but they’ve had an ambivalent response to new products.
Apoorva Mehta, founder and CEO of Instacart, has been replaced by a former Facebook executive, although she remains chairman of the board. Other top executives also left, including the two presidents.
Mehta was involved in tense discussions with board members last year, including talks with DoorDash and Uber about a possible acquisition of Instacart, according to four people with knowledge of the situation. (The New York Times CEO, Meredith Kopit Levien, joined Instacart’s board of directors in October 2021.)
Instacart was founded in 2012 by Max Mullen and Brandon Leonardo alongside Mr. Mehta. Lead investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and D1 Capital Partners.
The move to take the company public will be the next step in the new vision for Instacart laid out by CEO Fidji Simo, who stepped in for Mr. Mehta last summer. According to a person familiar with the situation, Instacart is working with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan on the proposal.
In a blog published Wednesday to commemorate Instacart’s 10th anniversary, Ms. Simo did not directly address the company’s going public, but said Instacart is building technology for the next 10 years in its grocery business.
“We will need to navigate new challenges and volatile public markets along the way,” he wrote. “But we have a vision worth pursuing.”
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