Instacart is out. We IPO nerds feel the pinch. Late last week, Reuters reported that the US grocery delivery and technology company could hold off on its IPO until next year. The richly valued startup was poised to be the best public offering of the year in the United States, but now it looks like we won’t see the implications of its IPO reception for at least another few months.
Instacart going public isn’t just notable because of its own corporate history. The company has raised a significant amount of money, has grown significantly during the pandemic and is expanding into advertising and software. The IPO is set to be a critical affair for other and yet-to-be-private unicorns, as it gives some indication of how the public market feels about at least one of its peers.
Unfortunately, we are missing new unicorn liquidity data for the remainder of calendar 2022. Although disappointing, this incident teaches us a few things. (Instacart declined to comment on the timing of the IPO, but did reveal some juicy data on its Q3 performance — details below.)
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Remember that Instacart got a new, lower 409a (internal) rate earlier this month. So we’re seeing the company delay its IPO with what we consider to be a low hurdle ahead of it — in terms of price, at least.
