Paying a premium to get your groceries delivered may have seemed like a luxury when Instacart was founded in 2012, but in the age of COVID-19 it’s proved to be a necessity for many people.
On Thursday, Instacart announced that it raised $225 million in a financing round led by DST Global and General Catalyst. This new investment brings the company’s total valuation to $13.7 billion.
This comes at a time when Instacart has seen a big surge in demand, and the new funding will be used to capitalize on this growth. The company plans to add new services and features for its shoppers. It plans to invest in its Instacart Advertising and Instacart Enterprise businesses. And it looks to scale its operational and technical teams to meet demand. It’s currently hiring for several roles, ranging from marketing, to product, design and engineering.
“COVID-19 created a massive shift for the grocery industry and forever changed how people view the necessity of on-demand services,” CEO and founder Apoorva Mehta said in a statement. “Overnight, Instacart became an essential service for millions of families across North America and our teams have worked incredibly hard to safely serve customers and shoppers during this time of need.”
He continued: “This pandemic has fundamentally reshaped the way people think about grocery and ecommerce, and we’re proud to have Instacart continue to play an important role in people’s lives now and long after this crisis subsides.”
Instacart has partnered with over 400 retail chains, across 30,000 stores in the United States and Canada. The company says it’s currently accessible to 85 percent of households in the country, across all 50 states.
