Dive Summary:
- Sequoia Capital announced Wednesday that it would put $8 million into Instacart, bringing the crowdsourced grocery delivery startup's new round of funding to $8.5 million.
- San Francisco-based Instacart uses a mobile app to send customers' orders to about 200 personal shoppers who work on commission in the Bay Area.
- Sequoia previously invested in Webvan, the failed startup whose assets now power AmazonFresh, but Michael Moritz, a partner at Sequoia, believes Instacart will prove to be a better business.
From the article:
... Instacart’s “secret sauce” is its fulfillment software, which allows the online retailer to combine orders placed at different times and fill them from different stores—supplementing frozen food from Trader Joe’s with fresh fruit from Whole Foods (WFM) and cereal from Costco (COST). Customers assemble their orders with lengthy drop-down menus on Instacart’s website or app. ...