Another Startup Dusts Off IPO Plans As Instacart Sets Valuation, Arm Set To Start Trading

A series of expected tech market debuts are moving closer to reality, setting the stage for the IPO market to reopen in the latter half of 2023 after an almost two-year pause.

Instacart, the grocery delivery app, on Monday set a target valuation of up to $9.3 billion for its Nasdaq debut expected this month. That’s a far cry from the $39 billion valuation that venture investors placed on the San Francisco-based company in 2021, when startup funding reached all-time highs. It’s also lower than the $13 billion internal valuation reportedly set in 2022.

Still, Instacart’s debut will no doubt be viewed as a harbinger for the massive herd of more than 1,400 unicorn startups waiting in the wings to exit, especially given that the few companies that ventured onto the public markets this year have posted a very mixed track record. The company, now a decade old, has raised some $2.9 billion from venture investors, per Crunchbase.

Chip designer Arm Holdings, meanwhile, is expected to price its New York Stock Exchange debut on Wednesday night and begin trading Thursday. It will be the first major tech IPO in almost two years. If successful, the SoftBank-owned company’s debut could whet investors’ appetites for new tech offerings. Arm has set a target valuation of as high as $52 billion.

Marketing tech startup Klaviyo is also expected to go public this month. The startup on Monday set terms for its IPO, aiming for a $6.8 billion valuation in an offering that would raise up to about $310 million. The Boston-based company was most recently valued at around $10 billion by venture investors.

And Turo, a peer-to-peer car rental service, on Monday filed updated statements with the SEC, signaling that it’s dusting off IPO plans made in 2022.