Last updated on October 18th, 2018
Instacart has raised $600 million as part of a financing round led by global investment advisory firm D1 Capital Partners. The investment from D1 Capital comes after a year of growth for Instacart and raises the company’s valuation to $7.6 billion.
“The U.S. is nearly a $1 trillion grocery market, and last year we saw almost every major grocer in North America bring their delivery business online in a significant way. We believe we’re in the very early stages of a massive shift in the way people buy groceries, and we expect that one in five Americans will be shopping for their groceries online in the next five years,” said Apoorva Mehta, CEO and founder of Instacart. “We’re excited to partner with D1 Capital on this investment, which is a testament to the growth we’ve seen and our ambitious plans for the future.”
Instacart expects to deploy the new capital from D1 Capital in a number of ways, including further expansion in North America, marketing investments to increase awareness of Instacart at its retail partners’ stores, and recruiting engineering and product development talent.
Today, Instacart is accessible to more than 70 percent of U.S. households and more than 50 percent of Canadian households. The company serves more than 15,000 different grocery stores across 4,000 cities with a community of 50,000 shoppers. Helping drive that growth are Instacart’s partnerships with more than 300 national, regional and local retailers such as Kroger, Aldi, Loblaw, Sam’s Club, Sprouts, Publix, Albertsons and Walmart Canada. To-date, Instacart has raised more than $1.6 billion in funding and has 600 full-time employees across North America.
“We have strong conviction in Instacart and its team and pursued the partnership because of the company’s unique industry leadership position and the growth opportunity ahead,” said Dan Sundheim, founder of D1 Capital Partners. “Grocery is the largest category within U.S. retail and it is also one of the least penetrated online. The industry is at a tipping point, and there will likely be a significant acceleration in the adoption of online ordering for grocery delivery over the next few years. We believe that traditional retailers will lead the category online, as their brick-and-mortar stores are the most effective distribution centers for fulfillment of online grocery orders. Instacart’s world-class management and engineering team has proven to be a highly effective partner for grocers to serve customers in new ways.”
Keep reading:
Albertsons Cos. Debuts Its Online Marketplace For Third-Party Sellers
Prime Delivery From Whole Foods Reaches Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Others
Tops Friendly Markets Launches Grocery Pickup At New York Locations
