Instacart pushes online delivery

Offers an Amazon-Prime like service called Instacart Express

The grocery delivery company Instacart is making significant headway. Just recently, hitting a milestone by reaching $44 million in a Series B financing led by tech investors Andreeson Horowitz.

Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures and Canaan Partners also participated in the round. In addition, Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, and Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator, made personal investments. According to Apoorva Mehta, Instacart’s founder and CEO, the financing would be used to accelerate geographical expansion; improve customer experience; experiment with new delivery models and improve its proprietary technology.

Instacart is a San Francisco start up that  uses smartphone equipped “personal shoppers” to provide home delivery from supermarkets in as little as an hour . Currently it’s available in 10 cities with plans for up to 17 markets by the end of the year. Customers can open an account at Instacart.com, and get free delivery on their first order of $35 or more. Instacart also offers an Amazon-Prime like service called Instacart Express — a $99 annual membership that eliminates delivery fees for all orders of $35 or more.

We’ve often said that supermarkets need to up their game when it comes to online delivery. The growth of instacart is a reminder that the time is right and customers are responding. They want convenience when it comes to shopping and retailers need to keep up to this demand or risk being left behind.