Instacart set its initial public offering at $30 per share, the top of its marketed range, and began trading on the Nasdaq under ticker CART. The pricing values the company at approximately $9.9 billion fully diluted, a figure that falls 75% below its $39 billion private valuation from March 2021.
The company sold 22 million shares in the offering, raising $660 million in gross proceeds. Underwriters hold an option to purchase an additional 3.3 million shares. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan led the syndicate. Instacart's float represents roughly 9% of shares outstanding post-offering, with founder Apoorva Mehta retaining a 10% stake and existing investors including Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz holding significant positions under lock-up through March 2024.
The valuation compression reflects a complete repricing of the grocery-delivery thesis. Revenue grew 31% year-over-year to $2.55 billion in 2022, but gross transaction value growth decelerated to 13% in the first half of 2023 as pandemic demand normalized. The company turned GAAP profitable in 2022 with net income of $428 million, though that figure included a one-time $734 million gain on warrant liability revaluation. Adjusted EBITDA margin stood at 4.1% in the most recent quarter, up from negative 12% two years prior.
The offering arrives as the first major consumer-tech IPO since late 2021. Allocators treating this as a reopening signal for the IPO window should note the structure: Instacart is profitable, trading at approximately 3.9x trailing twelve-month revenue, and priced 70% below where crossover funds last marked it. This is not 2020 underwriting. The company competes directly with DoorDash, which trades at 4.2x revenue and remains unprofitable on a GAAP basis, and Uber, whose delivery segment operates at comparable margin but benefits from ride-share cross-sell.
Watch for first-day trading volume and where the stock settles relative to the $30 print. A pop above $35 signals genuine institutional demand; a close near the offer price suggests the syndicate threaded the valuation needle precisely. ARM Holdings is expected to price its IPO within the next two weeks, targeting a $52 billion valuation. If both offerings hold their initial pricing and trade up modestly, the fourth quarter could see $15 billion to $20 billion in new tech issuance, the first meaningful window since late 2021.
The company's advertising revenue—$740 million in 2022, growing 30% year-over-year—now represents 29% of total revenue. That margin-accretive stream, sold to CPG brands seeking placement on the platform, is the asset institutional buyers are actually underwriting. Grocery delivery is the distribution. Data is the product.