Grocery delivery app Instacart Inc plans to focus on the sale of employees’ shares in its U.S. initial public offering and does not intend to raise much capital for the company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The report added the sale of mostly employee shares would allow Instacart’s staff, including its earliest hires, to cash in on of some of the shares they have been accumulating and also help the company retain talent.
Instacart declined to comment on the report when contacted by Reuters.
The shares will be sold directly to new investors at an agreed-upon price ahead of a stock-market debut, according to the WSJ report.
The report on Instacart’s decision comes at a time when market volatility triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and soaring global interest rates have forced investors to pull back from backing IPOs.
Instacart said in May it had confidentially filed with the U.S. securities regulator to go public, not long after slashing its valuation by 40 per cent following market turbulences.