Instacart

North America's largest online grocery marketplace and a top-tier retail media network for CPG advertisers

Instacart, operating under its parent entity Maplebear Inc., is North America's largest online grocery platform, partnering with over 1,400 retail banners and more than 80,000 store locations across the US and Canada. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, the company went public on Nasdaq in September 2023. Beyond its core grocery delivery and pickup marketplace, Instacart has built a substantial retail media business that allows consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands to reach shoppers at the point of purchase with high purchase intent. Instacart Ads is the company's retail media network, offering sponsored product listings, display advertising, shoppable video, and off-platform ad formats. The platform leverages Instacart's rich first-party transaction data — covering millions of grocery orders — to enable precise audience targeting, closed-loop measurement, and attribution. This positions Instacart as a key player in the rapidly growing retail media sector, competing directly with Amazon Advertising, Walmart Connect, and Kroger Precision Marketing. Instacart has also expanded its technology offerings through Instacart Platform (formerly Carrot), providing white-label e-commerce, fulfillment, and advertising technology to grocery retailers. This B2B SaaS layer, combined with its consumer marketplace and media network, makes Instacart a vertically integrated player in the grocery and retail media ecosystem. The company's Caper Cart smart shopping cart technology further extends its data collection and advertising touchpoints into physical retail environments.