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Instacart IPO Valuation Leaked

Instacart IPO Valuation Leaked

Plus, Alibaba's cloud head departs.

Photo by Marques Thomas on Unsplash

Today is Monday, September 11, 2023.

The Early Bird Index today is 56.97.

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Instacart IPO Valuation Leaked

Before its upcoming initial public offering, the valuation for the grocery delivery service Instacart has finally been revealed.

Details: According to The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, Instacart is targeting a valuation between $8.6 billion to $9.3 billion for its IPO. Instacart did not comment on the report.

Background: This valuation range represents a massive decline from what Instacart was previously worth in 2021. Back then, the company was worth $39 billion. But that was because the food delivery industry benefited from the pandemic. Now, the situation is different and Instacart’s valuation has fallen.

What’s Next: Reuters reported that Instacart is expected to file an updated IPO regulatory filing today with the valuation disclosed. The company aims to begin its roadshow this week, an important first step in the IPO process.

Final Thoughts: Both Instacart and chip company Arm Holdings are slated to be two of the big IPOs in September. Should investors target both IPOs? Typically, IPOs can be volatile and tough to pinpoint.

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), Mission Produce (Nasdaq: AVO), Skillsoft (NYSE: SKIL), FuelCell Energy (Nasdaq: FCEL), Casey's General (Nasdaq: CASY), Bowlero (NYSE: BOWL), Bioceres Crop Solutions (Nasdaq: BIOX).

Notable IPOs Today: N/A.

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: Tesa Medical (RedCrow), UpLyft (RedCrow), Hcare Health (RedCrow), Shady Grove Foods (Honeycomb).

Notable Economic Events Today: N/A.

Alibaba's Cloud Head Departs

Photo by Tarik Haiga on Unsplash

A surprise leadership departure rattled Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA) on Sunday.

Details: Reuters reported on Sunday that the China-based technology giant sent an internal letter to staff announcing that Daniel Zhang will step down from its cloud business. Alibaba did not respond to this report.

Powering the Story: Zhang’s departure was a bit of a shock. It was only a few months ago that Zhang stepped down from his previous roles as CEO and chairman to focus on the cloud business.

Background: Alibaba is going through a restructuring that involves breaking up the company. The cloud business could be spun out by next year.

Stock Price: Even though tech stocks are having a great year, Alibaba is down 2% in 2023.

Final Thoughts: Add this sudden departure to a long list of troubles that Alibaba has faced in 2023. With all of the economic problems in China, it is difficult to trust Alibaba in the short term.

Solana Drops Back Down

The price of Solana dropped about 5% on Sunday, losing all of the gains that the cryptocurrency had in the previous week.

Background: Last week, Solana benefited from a new partnership announced by Visa (NYSE: V). The price jumped because of that news and has now fallen back down.

Final Thoughts: The crypto markets are struggling thanks in part to the news that the former platform FTX is about to liquidate $3.4 billion in crypto.

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