'US version of Kurly’ Instacart, Will Its Valuation Surpass 13 Trillion Won?

Instacart, a grocery delivery company known as the "American version of Market Kurly," is expected to surpass a corporate value of 13 trillion won after its IPO as it raises its offering price target.

On the 18th (local time), according to Bloomberg and other sources, Instacart set its desired offering price at $30 per share, one day before its Nasdaq listing in the U.S.

This is a further increase from the previously raised offering price range of $28 to $30, which itself was an upward revision from the $26 to $28 range disclosed in the IPO filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last month. Bloomberg cited sources saying that Instacart is also considering an additional increase to $31 per share.

Applying the desired offering price, Instacart's post-IPO valuation (market capitalization) is estimated to reach $9.9 billion (approximately 13.13 trillion won). This is about one-quarter of the valuation of $39 billion during the pandemic boom in 2021, when the non-face-to-face market was thriving.

Instacart has attracted market attention as the largest IPO candidate, drawing early investors such as renowned venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management. However, as the venture investment boom cooled and the stock market weakened, causing delays in the listing timing, market conditions rapidly changed and the valuation significantly decreased. Even if it lists at the top end of the offering price, the investment value would have dropped by nearly 25% in just two years.

[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

Founded in 2012, Instacart is the largest grocery delivery company in the U.S., headquartered in San Francisco. According to financial data released last month, the company provides delivery services from over 80,000 stores, representing 80% of U.S. grocery stores. The number of active customers spending about $317 (420,000 won) per month on Instacart reaches 7.7 million.

Following the successful IPO of ARM, a British semiconductor design company and a subsidiary of Japan's SoftBank, market attention is focused on whether Instacart, the next in line, will succeed. One foreign media outlet predicted, "In the fiercely competitive U.S. online grocery market against retail giants like Walmart and Amazon, how Instacart demonstrates differentiated business performance and growth potential will determine its stock price direction after listing."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.