Instacart Reports Revenue Surge Ahead Of IPO

San Francisco-based online grocery shopping firm Instacart said its revenue for the first half of 2023 surged 31 percent, as it prepares a long-delayed public offering.

The IPOs of Instacard and SoftBank-owned, Cambridge, UK-based chip design firm Arm are expected to be closely watched in the coming weeks for signs of a comeback in the US market for public offerings, following a period of stagnation.

Arm is expected to be this year’s biggest public offering, while Instacart is the first significant venture capital-backed listing since December 2021.

Instacart, which delivers groceries and items from convenience stories and pharmacies to users in the US and Canada, had planned a listing in the fourth quarter of last year but decided to wait in the face of macroeconomic headwinds.

Revenue jump

The company reportedly cut its internal valuation to as low as $10 billion (£8bn) in December 2022, down 74 percent from the $39bn it was valued at in its last funding round in March 2021.

More recently the company reportedly raised its valuation by 18 percent in April.

In its public filing Instacart said its revenue grew to $1.48bn in the six months ended 30 June, up from $1.13bn a year earlier.

Net income was $242m, compared to a $74m loss a year earlier, the company said, adding that it has now been profitable for five straight quarters.

AI assistant

Net income in the latest quarter reached $114m, with revenue at $716m, up 15 percent year-on-year.

Instacart jumped into generative AI technologies, similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, with the launch of Ask Instacart in May and said it would continue focusing on incorporating AI and machine learning into the platform to drive future growth.