Grocery delivery startup Instacart closed a $210 million investment according to a regulatory filing, which a source says will increase to $220 million by the time the deal is completely done.
The investment raises the value of the company to around $2 billion. The new round of funding comes just a few weeks after word got around that the company was closing in on a new big investment led by Kleiner Perkins.
About half a year ago Instacart was valued at just $400 million after it raised a $44 million round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. However, the San Francisco-based company has grown tremendously this year. It is said that the grocery deliver startup will wrap up 2014 with revenue north of $100 million, nearly 10 times more than revenue it generated in 2013 according to CEO Apoorva Mehta.
Instacart lets customers order groceries from local stores online, which include places like Costco and Whole Foods. The groceries are delivered on the same day. Mehta says Instacart plans on expanding into delivery services other than groceries in 2015.
The large investment comes as more urban residents are showing interest in groceries that are delivered the same day they are ordered. This newly found interest is emerging a decade after companies such as Kozmo and Webvan launched into the scene before ultimately collapsing.
Instacart is also jumping at the opportunity to take advantage of investor interest concerning big grocery chains like Amazon expanding its grocery delivery business. The size of the funding round could be a telling sign that Instacart plans on building a standalone business rather than being acquired by a big company such as Google or Amazon. Even then the new $2 billion valuation could likely be already higher than most companies are willing to spend to acquire such a business anyway.
Grocery Delivery Startup Instacart Raises $220 Million In Funding
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