Instacart Expands Partnership With Kroger—Who Owns Instacart?
Instacart is currently owned by Maplebear Inc., a California-based investment company whose chief principal is Instacart founder Apoorva Mehta.
Sept. 14 2021, Published 2:20 p.m. ET
The future continues to look bright for online grocery delivery company Instacart. The company just announced an expanded partnership with Kroger Co. (KR) to deliver groceries to consumers in as little as 30 minutes. Who owns Instacart and stands to benefit from this new arrangement?
Who owns Instacart?
Instacart is currently owned by Maplebear Inc., a California-based investment company whose chief principal is Instacart founder Apoorva Mehta. Mehta, a former Amazon.com employee, founded Instacart in 2012 and served as the company’s CEO until this summer. In July, Instacart announced that former Facebook executive Fidji Simo would take the reins as the CEO, while Mehta continues on as executive chairman of the board.
In early August, there was talk about Instacart being purchased by online delivery company DoorDash, but the talks have since stalled.
Instacart might go public this year.
Although the company is currently privately owned, Instacart has talked of going public maybe as early as sometime this year. If Instacart goes public this year, it could be one of the biggest IPOs of 2021, Forbes reports.
The appointment of Simo as the CEO is an indication of Instacart’s possible interest in becoming a publicly traded company. Simo was part of Facebook's executive team when the company went public in 2012.
Consumers living near a Kroger-family store will benefit from the Instacart deal.
Currently, Instacart is the leading online grocery platform in North America. It's available to over 85 percent of U.S. households and 80 percent of Canadian households. The company partners with over 600 retailers delivering from about 55,000 stores across over 5,500 cities.
Instacart offers consumers same-day grocery delivery and pickup services and Kroger is the largest grocery retailer in the U.S. With the new arrangement between the two, customers living near one of the more than 2,700 Kroger-family stores can get their groceries in as little as 30 minutes. Kroger’s family of grocery retailers includes Ralphs, Fred Meyer, King Soopers, Fry’s, Mariano’s, and Smith’s locations.
With the new Kroger Delivery Now app available on Instacart and the Kroger website, customers can choose from 25,000 different items and have them delivered right to their door.
Instacart has partnered with Kroger since 2017. The partnership expanded in 2019 to include alcohol delivery, which is now available in 1,500 Kroger stores in 15 states.
“Instacart has become a powerful retail enablement platform and today’s expansion of our Kroger partnership is another example of our commitment to develop new solutions that help retailers grow and meet the evolving needs of their businesses and customers,” Simo said.
Instacart also introduced the Convenience Hub product.
Business has been good for Instacart, with orders up more than 150 percent since May 2021.
The app also announced the Convenience Hub on the Instacart Marketplace, which is a new product experience that streamlines customer shopping. Through the Convenience Hub, customers in most major U.S. cities can shop for convenience essentials 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Hub provides free Priority Delivery in as fast as 30 minutes for Instacart Express members with orders over $10.