Instacart

Instacart is a grocery delivery service. Apoorva Mehta, Max Mullen and Brandon Leonardo founded it in 2012 in San Francisco. Mehta had earlier worked at Amazon. The company rebranded as Maplebear Inc. for its corporate name and went public in 2023.

Shoppers, who work as contractors, select items in a store and bring them to the customer's door. The app works with chains such as Costco, Kroger and Aldi, as well as local shops. Customers pay for items, a delivery fee and a service fee, and a subscription called Instacart+ lowers those costs.

Instacart also sells advertising to food brands inside its app and provides software to grocers, including Storefront Pro and Caper Carts, which are smart shopping carts. Chris Rogers became chief executive in 2025 after Fidji Simo left to join OpenAI. The company says it works with thousands of retail banners and many thousands of stores in North America. Instacart has agreed to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. Its shoppers earn pay per batch, plus tips from customers.