Amid a wave of IPOs and SPAC mergers, a wild direct listing appears! Grocery delivery app Instacart (unrelated to a certain popular photo-sharing app) is apparently considering going public via a direct listing.

Direct listings skip the whole raising-funds part that involves a pre-offering share sale. It seems Instacart doesn’t need a cash injection as it just raised about $265m in a private round, upping its valuation to $39b.

Moreover, Instacart is among other e-commerce companies that recorded a rise in demand as more people shopped from home during the pandemic — that huge valuation didn't just appear from thin air, after all!