Instacart Shares Finish First Day of Trading 12% Higher After Paring Back Early Gains

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Bill McColl
Bill McColl
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Bill McColl has 25+ years of experience as a senior producer and writer for TV, radio, and digital media leading teams of anchors, reporters, and editors in creating news broadcasts, covering some of the most notable news stories of the time.

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Published September 19, 2023
InstaCart employees fulfill orders for delivery at the new Whole Foods Market

Bloomberg / Contributor / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

  • Instacart shares gained 12% on their first day trading on the Nasdaq.
  • The food delivery firm priced shares at $30 each, at the top end of its estimate.
  • The move came less than a week after a blockbuster IPO for British chip designer Arm, the biggest U.S. IPO since 2021.

Shares of grocery delivery company Instacart (CART) gained 12% on their first day of trading on Tuesday, fueling optimism about a potential turnaround for the initial public offering (IPO) market that has been sluggish for two years.

Instacart shares had jumped to as high as $42.95 during the session, 43% above the IPO price of $30, which was at the high end of the company’s estimate of $28 to $30. However, they pared back some of the gains later in the day, finishing at $33.70, giving the company a market capitalization of $11.16 billion.

CEO Fidji Simo said that “a massive digital transformation is underway in the grocery industry,” and that his firm is “a grocery technology company.” He added that by combining Instacart’s technology and fulfillment capabilities with the expertise of retailers, “we can help the national, regional, and local retailers that people already know and trust offer their customers an even better experience.”

The Instacart IPO came less than a week after British chip designer Arm (ARM) had the biggest IPO in the U.S. since 2021 at $54.5 billion. Its American depositary shares (ADSs) also skyrocketed on their first day of trading, but they’ve declined steadily since then.

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  1. Instacart. "Instacart Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering."

  2. Instacart. "Stock Up Your CART! A Letter from Instacart CEO Fidji Simo."

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