TORONTO – Instacart, the North American leader in online groceries, announced today that it will significantly expand its presence in Canada with a new tech hub in Toronto — "Instacart North" — and plans to hire 200 new employees over the next several years across engineering, product, design and research & development. Instacart's footprint in Canada has expanded over the last year through new and deepening retailer relationships and rapid customer demand. Instacart is now accessible to more than 50% of households in Canada and more than 70% of households in the United States.
"As a Canadian and alumni of the University of Waterloo engineering school, I'm proud to see Canada, and Toronto in particular, grow to become one of the most influential tech hubs in North America," said Apoorva Mehta, CEO of Instacart. "When I was a student at Waterloo, the perception was that you had to leave Toronto and head to Silicon Valley to make an impact in tech. Today, that's no longer the case, as Toronto has quickly become one of the hottest tech markets in the world. The innovation and talent coming out of Canada are world-class and Instacart is excited to invest in this growing community as we focus on unlocking more value for our customers and delivering them the groceries they want from the local brands they love."
Today, Instacart has more than 80 employees in its existing Toronto office, most of whom joined the company through its acquisition of Unata, a Canadian start-up offering an all-in-one e-commerce platform for grocery retailers. Earlier this month, Instacart announced the launch of a pilot program with Walmart Canada to offer same-day grocery delivery in the GTA and Winnipeg. This growth is in addition to Instacart's partnership with Loblaw, which began in December 2017 and has grown to offer grocery delivery from more than 250 Loblaw stores from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, with the support of thousands of dedicated shoppers.
Currently based in the heart of the city at Wellington Street West and Portland Street, Instacart plans to open the doors of its new Instacart North office in 2019. Instacart has nearly 600 full-time employees across the U.S. and Canada, and continues to recruit to build out its teams for future growth. The company currently works with more than 300 retailers and serves 15,000 different stores across more than 4,000 cities in North America.
About Instacart:
Instacart is the North American leader in online groceries and one of the fastest growing companies in e-commerce. Instacart's same-day delivery service brings everyday essentials and fresh groceries to consumers in the U.S. and Canada in as fast as an hour. Instacart has partnered with the most popular national and regional retailers such as Albertsons, Costco, CVS, Kroger, Loblaw, Publix, Wegmans and Sam's Club, among others. The Instacart marketplace offers more than 300 retailers and trusted local grocers that customers love. The company's cutting-edge technology powers some of the world's biggest retail players by supporting their e-commerce marketplace and delivery solutions. Instacart also offers an Express Membership program, giving customers unlimited free delivery from available stores on orders over $35. For more information, please visit www.Instacart.ca.
Source: Instacart
