Instacart plans IPO before year's end

Instacart, the grocery delivery and pick-up service, is considering a traditional IPO and expects to go public before the year ends, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Why it's the BFD: The ambition of planning a public offering under volatile market conditions — and against a backdrop where e-commerce sales are slowing — has us scratching our heads.

Catch up fast: Instacart revealed in May it privately filed an S-1, but was short on details. In fact, that was all the tech company said at the time.

Details: The company is currently in the process of responding to comments from the SEC on its IPO documents, the WSJ said.

• The article went on to note that Instacart was profitable in Q2 under generally accepted accounting principles.
• Proceeds from the offering are expected to finance acquisitions.

Yes, but: As you might expect, the timing of the IPO is not set in stone, the article cautions.

Between the lines: Like at many retail tech companies, the pandemic supersized revenue growth.

• But that growth is now cooling and delivery is getting more competitive, with the likes of DoorDash, Amazon's partnership with GrubHub and Uber having entered the fray.

Reality check: Earlier this month, Instacart's valuation was cut to $15 billion, after investors slashed the value of their stakes, according to Bloomberg.

• That followed Instacart cutting its valuation to $24 billion from $39 billion in March of this year.
• And a year after stepping down as CEO, founder Apoorva Mehta is stepping down as executive chair and will leave the board as soon as the company goes public.