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Instacart

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Role
Other company
Updated
  • Type: Online grocery delivery and pickup marketplace. Private through the pandemic; IPO September 2023 (NASDAQ: CART).
  • Legal entity: Maplebear Inc., doing business as Instacart (Delaware C-corp, headquartered in San Francisco).
  • Founded: 2012, San Francisco, by Apoorva Mehta with Max Mullen and Brandon Leonardo.
  • Leadership through the pandemic: Apoorva Mehta (founder/CEO); Fidji Simo became CEO in August 2021, with Mehta as executive chair.
  • Role in the relief programs: Instacart was too large for PPP, but its "full-service shoppers" were independent contractors (the Schedule-C / PUA population), and its gross transaction value rose 303% from 2019 to 2020 (Maplebear IPO prospectus, 2023).

Before the pandemic (2012–early 2020)

Instacart entered 2020 as an online-grocery marketplace with $5.1 billion in 2019 gross transaction value (Maplebear IPO prospectus, 2023), partnering with retailers rather than owning stores, and fulfilling orders through two workforces: part-time in-store employees who pick orders, and full-service shoppers who shop and deliver as independent contractors.

During the pandemic (March 2020 – 2022)

Instacart's gross transaction value went from $5.144 billion in 2019 to $20.736 billion in 2020, a 303% rise, and revenue grew 590% to $1.477 billion (Maplebear prospectus, 2023). A company model published in the prospectus estimates that "COVID-influenced orders accounted for the majority of our total orders in April 2020 and May 2020." Average order value peaked at $133 in the second quarter of 2020.

Losses shrank and investors put in $922 million

Instacart earns fees on each order from retailers and customers, plus advertising fees from brands. Its "full-service shoppers" are independent contractors paid per batch; the smaller group of in-store shoppers are employees (Maplebear prospectus). The net loss fell from $531 million in 2019 to $70 million in 2020, and the fourth quarter of 2020 showed net income of $44 million. Four Form D filings, signed between June 2020 and November 2021, report $921,999,906 of equity sold (Maplebear Forms D). The company put its valuation at $17.7 billion after the October 2020 round and $39 billion after the March 2021 round (Instacart funding announcements, Oct. 8, 2020 and Mar. 2, 2021).

In a June 9, 2022 letter on the draft prospectus, SEC staff asked Instacart to clarify how the pandemic had affected its business and to "present a balanced picture of your anticipated growth and margins going forward." The company's lawyers replied on June 30 that the disclosure had been revised (SEC comment letter and company response, 2022).

Shoppers: up to 14 days of COVID-19 pay, then a walkout

On March 10, 2020 Instacart offered "up to 14 days of pay" to any part-time employee or full-service shopper diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed in mandatory isolation or quarantine by a public health authority (Instacart shopper guidelines, Mar. 10, 2020). Workers criticized the eligibility rules (PayUp). The District of Columbia Attorney General said on June 2, 2020 that the rules "did not cover workers who suffered from COVID-19 symptoms, but lacked access to COVID-19 testing or a formal quarantine order." In an agreement with that office, Instacart agreed to extend the pay to shoppers diagnosed by a doctor or living with someone who had tested positive, to offer free telemedicine appointments and to give $50,000 to the Capital Area Food Bank (DC AG release).

On March 27, 2020, three days before a planned nationwide walkout, Instacart detailed an update to its extended-pay policy and hours-based bonuses for in-store shoppers (CNBC). On March 29 it set each customer's default tip to that customer's last tip amount instead of 5%, and said 97% of orders over the previous month included a tip (Instacart release, Mar. 29, 2020). CNBC and TechCrunch reported on the March 30, 2020 shopper walkout and its demands.

On April 23, 2020 Instacart reported more than 500,000 shoppers and a plan for 250,000 more. It added in-app wellness checks, expanded its COVID-19 extended-pay policies to all shoppers and let active shoppers request a free kit of face masks and hand sanitizer in the app (new shopper safety measures announcement, Apr. 23, 2020). Its filings put the cost of protective equipment given to shoppers at $7 million in 2020 and $3 million in 2021, against $1.477 billion of 2020 revenue (Maplebear prospectus). The bonuses were set amounts. In-store staff were offered $25 to $200 depending on hours worked, and active shoppers $50 to $500 at the end of 2020. A $25 vaccination stipend had paid out "nearly $2 million" by June 2021, the company said (Instacart posts, Dec. 10, 2020, Jan. 14, 2021 and June 16, 2021). The prospectus says demand surges still produced "shopper shortages despite the availability of shopper incentives that we provided."

Demand and hiring

On March 23, 2020, Apoorva Mehta thanked shoppers as "household heroes" and announced a plan to add 300,000 full-service shoppers to meet surging demand ("household heroes" message, March 2020).### Customers

Instacart rolled out contactless "Leave at My Door" delivery to every North American customer in March 2020. An October 2020 post says its Senior Support Service brought more than 60,000 seniors online in a month. Instacart and ALDI announced an online EBT SNAP pilot in October 2020; by July 2022 grocers on the Instacart Platform could accept EBT SNAP online in 49 states and Washington, D.C. (Instacart posts, Mar. 7 and Oct. 7 and 22, 2020; July 25, 2022). When stores ran out of items, the prospectus says, Instacart increased "customer appeasements, refunds, and incentives, which directly reduce our revenue."

Jobs

In 2021 the headcount costs in Instacart's cost of revenue fell by $56 million "as a result of a decrease in in-store shoppers," the employee group (Maplebear prospectus). California's WARN report lists 14 permanent layoffs by Instacart in Sunnyvale, with notice dated July 15, 2020 (California EDD WARN report, 2020–21). Instacart had 2,216 full-time employees at the end of 2020.

PPP loans under Instacart and Maplebear names

SBA loan data list seven PPP loans under the names Maplebear Inc, Instacart, Instacart FC Fund LLC and Instacart FL Fund LLC. Five give 50 Beale Street, San Francisco, the headquarters address in Instacart's SEC filings; two give "50," San Francisco 94105. Each lists the business type as "Independent Contractors" and one job. Together they were approved for $86,837.33 at first; five were forgiven, $65,587.35 in total, and two are marked charged off (SBA PPP loan data, 2024 release). Across the whole dataset, 36 loans carry Instacart or Maplebear in the borrower's name. The data do not show who applied. Instacart's IPO prospectus does not mention the Paycheck Protection Program or the CARES Act.

Proposition 22

Like its peers, Instacart funded California's Proposition 22, which kept shoppers classified as contractors (Ballotpedia, reports its contribution at roughly $28–32 million); CNN reported that it distributed "Yes on 22" material to some shoppers.

After the pandemic (2021–present)

Mehta handed the CEO role to Fidji Simo in August 2021, and Instacart went public in September 2023 (NASDAQ: CART) (company filings). Simo resigned as chief executive effective August 15, 2025, and Chris Rogers, the chief business officer since September 2022, succeeded her (Form 8-K, May 28, 2025). Rogers signed Instacart's quarterly report for the second quarter of 2026 as chief executive (Form 10-Q, Exhibit 31.1, August 6, 2026).

Current posture (as of mid-2026)

SBA data list seven PPP loans under Instacart or Maplebear names with San Francisco 94105 addresses, five of them at 50 Beale Street; each lists the business type "Independent Contractors" and one job, and the company's IPO prospectus does not mention the Paycheck Protection Program. Its full-service shoppers were part of the self-employed population eligible for PUA and PPP as sole proprietors.

  • DoorDash — delivery peer; same contractor-plus-merchant structure
  • Grubhub — delivery peer
  • Uber — rideshare/delivery peer; Prop 22 co-funder

Sources

Primary documents in this archive (snapshots flagged for re-fetch; live URLs verified)

External references

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