Online grocery delivery company Instacart has announced that it has raised $600 million as part of a financing round led by D1 Capital Partners. This round brought Instacart’s valuation to a whopping $7.6 billion. Since Instacart started, the company has raised more than $1.6 billion in funding and the company now has 600 full-time employees across North America.
“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 Instacart founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta. “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.”
With this round of funding, Instacart is planning to further expand in North America and make additional marketing investments. And the company is planning to increase the awareness of Instacart at its retail partners’ stores and recruit additional engineering and product development talent.
As of today, Instacart is accessible to more than 70% of U.S. households and 50% of Canadian households. Instacart provides its services to more than 15,000 different grocery stores across 4,000 cities. And the company has a dedicated community of 50,000 shoppers. Plus Instacart has deep partnerships with more than 300 national, regional, and local retailers like Albertsons, ALDI, Kroger, Loblaw, Publix, Sam’s Club, Sprouts, and Walmart Canada.
“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. Grocery is the largest category within U.S. retail and it is also one of the least penetrated online,” added D1 Capital Partners founder Dan Sundheim. “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.”
Instacart’s signature service is that it provides same-day delivery service for groceries as quickly as an hour to consumers in the U.S. and Canada. And Instacart also provides an Express Membership program, which provides customers with unlimited free delivery from available stores on orders more than $35.
