Instacart’s shares commenced trading at $30 and concluded the day at $34.23, resulting in a valuation of approximately $11 billion. This valuation is approximately half of what the company received from investors in March of the previous year.

Instacart’s primary business involves sending couriers to grocery stores to fulfill orders and deliver them to customers’ homes. However, in recent years, it has expanded into various areas, including advertising and technology services, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence operations.

Executives at Instacart positioned this offering as an opportunity to participate in a revolution within the grocery industry, emphasizing the industry’s lag in developing technologies to meet evolving consumer preferences.

While U.S. consumers are ordering more groceries online than before the pandemic, they are doing so less frequently. Instacart, which recently started turning a profit after years of losses, faces stiff competition from Uber and DoorDash in this rapidly evolving market.

The share offering received substantial backing from major investors, including PepsiCo, Norway’s Norges Bank, and Sequoia Capital.

One of the notable beneficiaries of this IPO is Apoorva Mehta, a co-founder who established the company in 2012 and stepped down as CEO in 2021. Mehta’s 10% stake in the firm is now valued at $1.3 billion.

Instacart currently boasts a workforce of over 3,000 employees and approximately 600,000 “shoppers,” who serve as independent contractors responsible for order fulfillment. The company has announced plans to provide bonuses to shoppers who have completed at least 5,000 orders and a substantial $20,000 bonus to those who have delivered at least 15,000 orders.