Soon after surpassing Walmart for its share of the United States e-commerce grocery market, Instacart raised USD 225 million (EUR 227 million) in funding.
Instacart’s valuation increased to USD 13.7 billion (EUR 12.2 billion) after its latest financing round led by DST Global and General Catalyst, with existing investor D1 Capital Partners participating, the service said in a press release.
“This investment comes as Instacart continues to experience an unprecedented surge in customer demand for grocery delivery and pickup across North America. COVID-19 has changed the rhythm of life for families everywhere and fundamentally reshaped the way people think about on-demand services like Instacart,” Instacart said.
Instacart’s success is a reflection of the booming grocery e-commerce market in the U.S.
According to a recent Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Survey, online grocery sales spiked 24 percent from April to May to reach USD 6.6 billion (EUR 5.9 billion).
Business Insider Intelligence, which estimates that 43 percent of U.S. consumers will have used online grocery by the end of June 2020, believes the growth will continue in the future.
Instacart’s share of the online grocery market spiked to 57 percent in April, and its share of the online grocery market outpaced Walmart for the first time, The Information reported.
Walmart’s weekly share of the online grocery business relative to other major players in the category dropped to around 25 percent in March, after ranging between about 40 percent and 50 percent for more than a year, The Information said.
“The decline came as Walmart struggled to fulfill the onslaught of new orders coming in from people cooped up in their homes,” The Information reported.
Instacart partners with more than 400 national, regional, and local retailers to deliver groceries and household essentials from more than 30,000 stores across the U.S. and Canada.
In addition to serving as an “essential service for customers across the U.S. and Canada,” the delivery service has doubled the size of its shopper community, employing more than 500,000, it said.
