Instacart Announces Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results

GTV grew 15% year-over-year and total revenue grew 17% year-over-year

GAAP net income of $147 million; Adjusted EBITDA of $342 million, up 23% year-over-year

Instacart enters into definitive agreement to be acquired by DoorDash in a cash-and-stock transaction with an equity value of approximately $17 billion

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Instacart (NASDAQ: CART) today released financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2026.

Additionally, in a separate release issued today, Instacart announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by DoorDash, Inc. (NASDAQ: DASH). The cash-and-stock transaction values Instacart at an equity value of approximately $17 billion.

"Q3 was our best quarter as a public company, with GTV up 15% year-over-year and advertising and other revenue up 23% year-over-year. Our fundamentals keep getting stronger, with solid consumer demand, deepening customer engagement, and expanding profitability," said Chris Rogers, CEO. "Online grocery is still an underpenetrated category, and we're in the early stages of realizing what our purpose-built grocery technology can do to transform it. That's why we're building the operating system for grocery: one integrated platform that powers ecommerce, fulfillment, in-store, retail media, and AI Solutions. We're excited about what's ahead, working closely with our partners to strengthen and grow their businesses and shape the future of the grocery industry."

Third Quarter 2026 Financial Highlights

• GTV of $10,528 million, up 15% year-over-year.
• Orders of 91.4 million, up 10% year-over-year.
• Total revenue of $1,095 million, up 17% year-over-year, representing 10.4% of GTV.
• Transaction revenue of $764 million, up 14% year-over-year, representing 7.3% of GTV.
• Advertising and other revenue of $331 million, up 23% year-over-year, representing 3.1% of GTV.
• GAAP gross profit of $786 million, up 14% year-over-year, representing 7.5% of GTV and 72% of total revenue.
• GAAP net income of $147 million, up 2% year-over-year, representing 1.4% of GTV and 13% of total revenue.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $342 million, up 23% year-over-year, representing 3.2% of GTV and 31% of total revenue.
• Operating cash flow of $324 million, up 13% year-over-year, and free cash flow of $307 million, up 13% year-over-year.
• Repurchased $230 million in shares and ended the quarter with $1 billion in cash and similar assets.

September 30,

Cancellation of Earnings Conference Call and Suspension of Guidance

In light of the announced agreement to be acquired by DoorDash, Instacart has cancelled its earnings conference call previously scheduled for November 5, 2026. In addition, as is customary during the pendency of such a transaction, Instacart is suspending its financial guidance and has withdrawn previously issued long-term guidance.

About Instacart

Instacart is a leading grocery technology company that partners with more than 2,200 retail banners – representing nearly 100,000 stores – to transform how people shop for the groceries they need from the retailers they trust, while creating flexible earning opportunities for shoppers. Through the Instacart Marketplace, Instacart Enterprise platform, and Instacart Ads ecosystem, the company powers ecommerce, fulfillment, in-store technology, AI offerings, and advertising for partners. For more information, visit www.instacart.com/company. Maplebear Inc. is the registered corporate name of Instacart.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical fact could be deemed forward-looking, including without limitation statements regarding the proposed acquisition of Instacart by DoorDash, trends in our business and industry, our plans and expectations regarding growth, products, features, and partnerships, including expansion of our capabilities, services, and solutions, and our strategic priorities, investments, and initiatives. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as "anticipate," "believe," "contemplate," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "target," "toward," "will," or "would," or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions.

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause actual results or outcomes to be materially different from any future results or outcomes expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors include, but are not limited to, the completion of the proposed merger with DoorDash (the "merger") within the expected timeframe or at all; our ability to receive regulatory or stockholder approval of the merger; the possibility that any other conditions to closing the merger are not waived or satisfied; contractual restrictions on the operation of our business during the pendency of the merger; disruption of management's time and resources from ongoing business operations due to the merger; our ability to attract and retain key personnel during the pendency of the merger; legal action against us or our board of directors in connection with the merger; the occurrence of any event or circumstance giving rise to a right to terminate the merger, which may include an obligation that we pay a termination fee; our ability to forecast our performance; our ability to attract and increase engagement of, and maintain relationships with, customers, retailers, brands, and shoppers, including following the announcement of the merger; the increasing scale, scope, and complexity of our business; evolving and uncertain macroeconomic conditions; our ability to achieve and maintain profitability and profitable growth; competition; and legal and regulatory developments; as well as other risks described from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K or quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC.

You should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. We have based the forward-looking statements contained in this press release on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Key Business Metrics

We use the following key business metrics to help us evaluate our business, identify trends affecting our performance, formulate business plans, and make strategic decisions:

• Gross Transaction Value (GTV): We define GTV as the value of the products sold through Instacart, including applicable taxes, deposits and other local fees, customer tips, which go directly to shoppers, customer fees, which include flat subscription fees related to Instacart+ that are charged monthly or annually, and other fees. GTV consists of orders including those completed through Instacart Marketplace or services that are part of the Instacart Enterprise platform. We believe that GTV indicates the health of our business, including our ability to drive revenue and profits, and the value we provide to our constituents.
• Orders: We define an order as a completed customer transaction to purchase goods for delivery or pickup primarily from a single retailer through Instacart during the period indicated, including those completed through Instacart Marketplace or services that are part of the Instacart Enterprise platform. We believe that orders are an indicator of the scale and growth of our business as well as the value we bring to our constituents.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We use the following non-GAAP financial measures in conjunction with GAAP measures to assess performance, to inform the preparation of our annual operating budget and quarterly forecasts, to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies, and to discuss our business and financial performance with our board of directors. We believe that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to investors about our business and financial performance, enhance their overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects, and allow for greater transparency with respect to metrics used by our management in their financial and operational decision making. We are presenting these non-GAAP financial measures to assist investors in seeing our business and financial performance through the eyes of management, and because we believe that these non-GAAP financial measures provide an additional tool for investors to use in comparing results of operations of our business over multiple periods with other companies in our industry.

Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA as a Percent of GTV, and Adjusted EBITDA Margin. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss), adjusted to exclude (i) provision for (benefit from) income taxes, (ii) interest income, (iii) other (income) expense, net, (iv) depreciation and amortization expense, (v) stock-based compensation expense, (vi) payroll taxes related to stock-based compensation, (vii) certain legal and regulatory reserve changes and settlements, (viii) reserves for sales and other indirect taxes, net, (ix) certain transaction-related expenses, and (x) certain other items not indicative of our ongoing operating performance. We define Adjusted EBITDA margin as Adjusted EBITDA as a percent of total revenue.

Adjusted Cost of Revenue and Adjusted Cost of Revenue as a Percent of GTV. We define adjusted cost of revenue as cost of revenue excluding depreciation and amortization expense and stock-based compensation expense.

Adjusted Operations and Support Expense and Adjusted Operations and Support Expense as a Percent of GTV. We define adjusted operations and support expense as operations and support expense excluding depreciation and amortization expense, stock-based compensation expense, and payroll taxes related to stock-based compensation.

Adjusted Research and Development Expense and Adjusted Research and Development Expense as a Percent of GTV. We define adjusted research and development expense as research and development expense excluding depreciation and amortization expense, stock-based compensation expense, and payroll taxes related to stock-based compensation.

Adjusted Sales and Marketing Expense and Adjusted Sales and Marketing Expense as a Percent of GTV. We define adjusted sales and marketing expense as sales and marketing expense excluding depreciation and amortization expense, stock-based compensation expense, and payroll taxes related to stock-based compensation.

Adjusted General and Administrative Expense and Adjusted General and Administrative Expense as a Percent of GTV. We define adjusted general and administrative expense as general and administrative expense excluding depreciation and amortization expense; stock-based compensation expense; payroll taxes related to stock-based compensation; certain legal and regulatory reserve changes and settlements; reserves for sales and other indirect taxes, net; and certain transaction-related expenses.

Adjusted Total Operating Expenses and Adjusted Total Operating Expenses as a Percent of GTV. We define adjusted total operating expenses as the sum of adjusted operations and support expense, adjusted research and development expense, adjusted sales and marketing expense, and adjusted general and administrative expense.

We exclude depreciation and amortization expense and stock-based compensation expense from our non-GAAP financial measures as these are non-cash in nature. We exclude payroll taxes related to the vesting and settlement of certain equity awards; certain legal and regulatory reserve changes and settlements; reserves for sales and other indirect taxes, net; certain transaction-related expenses; and certain other items as these are not indicative of our ongoing operating performance.

Free Cash Flow. We define free cash flow as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities less purchases of property and equipment, including capitalized internal-use software.

Non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for comparable GAAP financial measures and should be read only in conjunction with our condensed consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. Our presentation of non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similar measures used by other companies, which reduce their usefulness as comparative measures. In addition, other companies may not publish these or similar measures. Further, these measures have certain limitations in that they do not include the impact of certain expenses that are reflected in our condensed consolidated statements of operations. We encourage investors and others to review our business, results of operations, and financial information in their entirety, not to rely on any single financial measure, and carefully consider our results under GAAP, as well as our supplemental non-GAAP information and the reconciliation between these presentations, to more fully understand our business. Please see the tables included at the end of this press release for the reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(unaudited, in millions)

December 31,

September 30,

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(unaudited, in millions, except share amounts, which are reflected in thousands, and per share amounts)

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(unaudited, in millions)

KEY BUSINESS METRICS AND RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP RESULTS

(unaudited, in millions, except percentages)

RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP RESULTS

(unaudited, in millions, except percentages)

RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP RESULTS (CONTINUED)

(unaudited, in millions, except percentages)

RECONCILIATION OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP RESULTS (CONTINUED)

(unaudited, in millions, except percentages)

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SOURCE Maplebear Inc. dba Instacart