Instacart shares popped 40% in their Nasdaq debut on Tuesday, opening at $42, after the grocery-delivery company’s long-awaited IPO.
The offering late Monday at $30 a share valued Instacart at about $10 billion on a fully diluted basis, down from a private market valuation of $39 billion at the height of the Covid pandemic in early 2021. The opening price lifted its valuation to about $14 billion.
Instacart is the first notable venture-backed company in the U.S. to go public since December 2021, and its performance is being closely tracked by venture firms and late-stage startups that have been waiting for investors’ risk appetite to return. The Nasdaq has rebounded this year after a dismal 2022, but companies that went public before the downturn are still trading at a steep discount to their peak prices. Software developer Klaviyo is expected to hit the market soon.
Founded in 2012, Instacart delivers groceries from chains including Kroger, Costco and Wegmans, had to drop its stock price dramatically to make it appealing for public market investors. In early 2021, with consumers stuck at home and loading up on delivery orders, Instacart raised money at $125 a share, from prominent venture firms like Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, along with big asset managers Fidelity and T. Rowe Price.
Instacart has sacrificed growth for profitability, a move required to preserve cash and attract investor interest. Revenue increased 15% in the second quarter to $716 million, down from growth of 40% in the year-earlier period and about 600% in the early months of the pandemic. The company reduced headcount in mid-2022 and lowered costs associated with customer and shopper support.
Instacart started generating earnings in the second quarter of 2022, and in the latest quarter reported $114 million in net income, up from $8 million a year prior.
At $10 billion, Instacart is valued at about 3.5 times annual revenue. Food delivery provider DoorDash, which Instacart named as a competitor in its prospectus, trades at 4.25 times revenue. DoorDash’s revenue in the latest quarter grew faster, at 33%, but the company is still losing money. Uber’s stock trades for less than 3 times revenue. The ridesharing company’s Uber Eats business is also named as an Instacart competitor.
The bulk of Instacart’s competition is coming from Amazon as well as big brick-and-mortar retailers, like Target and Walmart, which have their own delivery services. Target acquired Shipt in 2017 for $550 million.
Only about 8% of Instacart’s outstanding shares were floated in the offering, with 36% of those sold coming from existing shareholders.
“We felt that it was really important to give our employees liquidity,” CEO Fidji Simo told CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa in an interview. “This IPO is not about raising money for us. It’s really about making sure that all employees can have liquidity on stocks that they work very hard for. We weren’t looking for a perfect market window.”
The company said co-founders Brandon Leonardo and Maxwell Mullen are each selling 1.5 million, while Mehta is selling 700,000. Former employees, including those who were in executive roles as well as in product and engineering, are selling a combined 3.2 million shares.
For Instacart, that offering brought in over $420 in cash, adding to the close to $2 billion in cash and equivalents the company had on its balance sheet as of the end of June.
Advanced Micro Devices‘ CEO Lisa Su shut down concerns over Big Tech’s elevated spending during an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday and said investing in more computing will accelerate the pace of innovation.
“I don’t think it’s a big gamble,” she said. “I think it’s the right gamble.”
Many of AMD’s hyperscaler customers over the last 12 months have beefed up spending as the technology reaches an “inflection point” and companies can see the return on that spending, Su added.
Su’s comments come as tech’s megacaps announced more than $380 billion in AI spending in their latest earnings reports as the firms race to build out infrastructure to support soaring demand.
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On Tuesday, Su told analysts that AMD expects revenues to grow 35% per year over the next three to five years due to “insatiable” AI chip demand.
Shares were last up more than 7%.
Concerns of a potential AI bubble have jolted markets in recent sessions as Wall Street raises concerns that valuations have gotten too high.
Brian Armstrong, chief executive officer of Coinbase Global Inc., speaks during the Messari Mainnet summit in New York, on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Coinbase is following Tesla out of Delaware and into Texas.
Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Wednesday that the crypto exchange is moving its state of incorporation, a year after Elon Musk did the same with his electric vehicle maker. Musk also reincorporated his rocket maker SpaceX from Delaware to Texas.
“Delaware’s legal framework once provided companies with consistency. But no more,” Grawal wrote, pointing to recent “unpredictable outcomes” in the Delaware Chancery Court.
A handful of notable names, including Dropbox, TripAdvisor and venture firm Andreessen Horowitz have announced departures from Delaware. It’s a move that was championed by Musk following a Delaware Chancery Court ruling that ordered Tesla to rescind the CEO’s 2018 pay package, worth about $56 billion in options.
“If your company is still incorporated in Delaware, I recommend moving to another state as soon as possible,” Musk wrote in a post on X in February 2024, when he filed to change SpaceX’s incorporation state.
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Last week, Tesla shareholders voted to approve Musk’s more recent pay package, which could be worth up to $1 trillion.
Delaware has long been the dominant state for U.S. companies to incorporate due to its flexible corporate code and expert judiciary, and is seen as balancing the rights of executives and shareholders. A Texas state law allows corporations to limit shareholder lawsuits against insiders for breach of fiduciary duty.
Coinbase and Andreessen Horowitz, an early backer, currently face a lawsuit in Delaware concerning the sale of shares in the crypto company tied to its public listing in 2021.
Like Musk, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong was a major contributor to President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign for the White House.
Mike Intrator, Chief Executive Officer and founder of CoreWeave, poses for a photo during the company’s Initial Public Offering(IPO) at the Nasdaq headquarters on March 28, 2025 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.
Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Chips and dip
2. Numbers game
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.
Bill Clark | Getty Images
While the government shutdown could be over soon, don’t expect the Bureau of Labor Statistics to release all the missed economic data immediately.
As CNBC’s Jeff Cox reports, government agencies will need time to catch up on data collection. If the shutdown ends this week, Goldman Sachs estimated that the BLS could have a schedule for when it would release reports — but not the data itself — out early next week.
Market watchers are especially eager to see what job market data will say, as other data sources point to loosening in the labor force. Adding to the uncertainty is the rise of “ghost job” postings, a term used to describe listings for open roles that have never appeared to be filled.
3. Payment plans
A protester with the Main Street Alliance holds a sign outside the U.S. Supreme Court, as its justices are set to hear oral arguments on U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid to preserve sweeping tariffs after lower courts ruled that Trump overstepped his authority, in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 5, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
President Donald Trump floated a tariff rebate check over the weekend. Experts are warning you shouldn’t hold your breath.
Policy analysts and economists told CNBC’s Jessica Dickler that Trump’s idea of paying Americans a “dividend” of at least $2,000 — except for “high income people” — likely wouldn’t happen anytime soon. They also warned that this type of economic stimulus could drive up inflation.
Speaking of tariffs, CNBC’s Lori Ann LaRocco reported that U.S. importers are expecting a simple repayment process if the Supreme Court rules against Trump’s levies and forces a refund.
4. Capital, capitol
Bitcoin and USA flag on a cracked wall.
Ruma Aktar | Istock | Getty Images
The Senate Agriculture Committee this week released a draft of its part of a market structure bill for digital assets, a major step toward greater investor adoption of cryptocurrencies.
The draft lays out a framework for how to place guardrails on the industry and institutions that want to utilize digital assets. Cody Carbone, CEO of crypto trade association Digital Chamber, called it “the most consequential roadmap” for how institutions will utilize these currencies.
The Roger models, named after former tennis player and company investor Roger Federer, are displayed in a shop of Swiss shoemaker On in Zurich, Switzerland, Aug. 28, 2025.
Denis Balibouse | Reuters
On, the Swiss sportswear company,isn’t seeing the same slowdown as other shoe makers. The company reported better-than-expected earnings and raised its guidance this morning, saying it wouldn’t need to offer Black Friday deals to juice demand. Shares of On surged nearly 9% in premarket trading.
Elsewhere in fitness, Oura CEO Tom Hale told CNBC in an exclusive interview that the smart ring maker could see $2 billion in sales in 2026, almost doubling sales for a second straight year. Oura raised $900 million in a funding round last month, bringing its value to $11 billion. But public market investors shouldn’t get too excited: Hale said there’s “no news on an IPO” for the Finnish company.
The Daily Dividend
Consumer sentiment varies significantly by the amount of stocks individuals hold. Click here to read more about how the biggest owners are buoying economic confidence, and what could change that.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Kif Leswing, Ashley Capoot, Jordan Novet, Yun Li, Jeff Cox, Jessica Dickler,Lori Ann LaRocco, Liz Napolitano, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Tasmin LockwoodandArjun Kharpalcontributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.