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CNN
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Instacart began trading Tuesday, opening at $42 per share and propelling the grocery delivery company to a market valuation of just over $11 billion.
Trading under the ticker CART, Instacart had set a price of $30 per share for its IPO.
Instacart’s current valuation represents a sharp drop from the $39 billion the company was worth in 2021 amid a pandemic-induced boom. Since then, its value has fallen as demand for its services began to stabilize and some Instacart employees began to feel the effects of a sharp drop in orders. Competition has also increased from Amazon and Walmart as they improve their grocery delivery options.
In a regulatory filing last week, Instacart said it has a “history of losses” but “has recently begun generating profits.” For the first half of 2023, the company made a profit of $242 million, compared to a loss of $74 million for the same period a year ago.
Last year, Instacart unveiled new offerings to expand the services it provides to retail partners, including a move toward faster deliveries, a space in which a number of emerging entrants compete.
The company could receive a warm response from investors, who last week gave UK-based chip designer Arm a successful debut on Nasdaq. This stock ended its first day of trading up 25%, giving the company a market capitalization of approximately $65 billion. Arm was the largest public offering in two years, following Rivian’s commercial debut.
Cnn