Oct 20, 2022 - Technology

Instacart postpones its IPO

Illustration of a grocery cart with the Instacart app icon inside.

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

Grocery delivery app Instacart has decided to push its highly anticipated IPO into 2023, believing the current stock market is too volatile, as first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by Axios.

The big picture: Only 65 companies have gone public on U.S. exchanges this year, which represents an 80.7% decline from last year, per Renaissance Capital.

  • U.S. IPO proceeds are down a whopping 94.1%.

Backstory: Instacart filed confidential IPO registration papers with the SEC earlier this year, and as of a few weeks ago was still hoping to get out in 2022. But the San Francisco-based company recently changed course, in the midst of increased volatility.

What they're saying: Instacart declined to comment on its IPO plans, but did provide Axios with the following statement:

  • “We are incredibly proud of the work our teams are doing to power the future of grocery with our retail partners, and our business has never been stronger. In Q3, our revenue grew more than 40% year-over-year, and our Net Income and Adjusted EBITDA more than doubled from Q2. We remain focused on building for the long-term, and we are excited about the opportunity ahead." 

The big question: How employees take the news. Particularly those who'd been with the company for years and were expecting to sell shares into the IPO.

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