Report: Instacart IPO Would Shun Weak Markets to Reward, Retain Employees

Instacart will reportedly forgo raising fresh capital in its expected initial public offering (IPO) and instead back a plan that would see most of its listing funded with shares sold by employees.

According to a  report by The Wall Street Journal Monday (Sept. 19) citing unnamed people familiar with the company’s plans, Instacart executives are reported to have said in investor meetings recently that they didn’t plan to issue many new shares for the IPO.

The report notes that the sale would let Instacart’s staff cash out of some of the shares they’d been holding onto, including longtime employees of the 10-year-old grocery delivery company, as well as the fact that recent filings showed it had more than $1 Billion in cash.

Instacart declined to comment when reached by PYMNTS Monday.

Read more: With Startup Acquisition Spree, Instacart Spruces up in Advance of IPO

PYMNTS reported earlier this month that Instacart has embarked on a spending spree ahead of its IPO, purchasing startups to beef up its offerings and make itself more appealing to investors. On Sept. 7, the company announced it had acquired Rosie, which offers eCommerce solutions for independent grocers, for an undisclosed sum.

Rosie’s features include website and app building tools, advertising tools, and loyalty programs, which Instacart plans to use to offer solutions that more specifically address the needs of smaller grocery retailers.

On Sept. 1, Instacart announced its purchase of Eversight, a pricing and promotions platform for consumer-packaged goods (CPG) brands and retailers.

Read more: US 8-Month Tech IPO Drought Is Longest in This Century

The company’s plan to go public is happening amid a drought for tech company IPOs. As PYMNTS noted recently, Wednesday (Sept. 21) will mark the 238th day without a tech IPO of over $50 million, surpassing the records set after the 2008 crisis and the dot.com collapse in the early 2000s.

Record inflation has led the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates, leading to dwindling enthusiasm for growth stocks that were big winners amid the boom in 2021. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 28% this year, versus a 19% drop in the S&P 500.

For all PYMNTS retail coverage, subscribe to the daily Retail Newsletter.