Instacart soars 40% in its trading debut

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN

New York (CNN) — Instacart started trading Tuesday, opening at $42 per share and propelling the grocery-delivery company to a market valuation of just over $11 billion.

Trading under the ticker CART, Instacart had set a price of $30 per share for its initial public offering.

Instacart’s current valuation is a steep drop from the $39 billion the company was worth in 2021 amid a pandemic-induced boom. Since then, its value has plunged as demand for its services began to stabilize, and some Instacart workers have begun feeling the effects of a sharp drop in orders. Competition has also increased from Amazon and Walmart as they improve their grocery delivery options.

In a regulatory filing last week, Instacart said it has a “history of losses,” but “recently began generating profit.” For the first half of 2023, it raked in $242 million in profit, compared with a $74 million loss for the same time period a year ago

Last year, Instacart unveiled new offerings to broaden the services it provides to retail partners, including a push into faster deliveries, a space where a number of emerging entrants are competing.

The company might get a warm response from investors, who gave UK-based chip designer Arm a successful Nasdaq debut last week. That stock finished its first day of trading 25% higher, landing the company with a market cap of around $65 billion. Arm was the largest public offering in two years, after Rivian made its trading debut.

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