Instacart gobbles up indie-focused e-commerce firm in latest acquisition

Instacart, which has been acquiring companies and adding features as it reportedly prepares to go public, made another purchase—this one with an independent-retailer focus, the same-day grocery delivery platform announced Wednesday.

In the latest deal, Instacart has acquired Rosie, an e-commerce platform geared toward independent grocers and wholesalers. Rosie, which was founded in 2013, works with grocers such as Rosauers Supermarkets, Lee’s Marketplace and Geissler’s Supermarkets across more than 40 states to offer branded e-commerce websites and mobile app capabilities, Instacart said.

“Our focus is on creating technology solutions that are tailor-made to meet the online and in-store needs of all grocers, whether they’re national chains or independently owned and operated,” Instacart’s Chief Business Officer Chris Rogers said in a statement. “Local and independent grocers are so important to the grocery ecosystem.”

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquisition comes less than a week after San Francisco-based Instacart announced its purchase of Eversight, an artificial intelligence-powered pricing and promotions platform for retailers and CPG brands that allows for continuous tests of customized pricing in real time.

Instacart, which confidentially filed documents for an initial public offering in May, is said to be planning to go public by the end of the year.

Rosie’s employees will join Instacart to help the tech company further develop resources for small grocers, Instacart said.

“The Rosie team understands these grocers better than anyone, and that’s why we’re proud to welcome them to Instacart,” Rogers said. “Together, we’ll build more technologies that help independent grocers accelerate their pace of innovation so they can continue to compete, grow and serve their customers however they choose to shop.”

Less than a year ago, Instacart acquired AI-powered shopping cart and technology platform Caper AI, with the goal of helping retailers unify the in-store and online shopping experiences.

Around the same time, the delivery platform purchased FoodStorm, a software as a service order-management system that powers order-ahead and catering operations for grocers.

Last month, Instacart said it had fully integrated FoodStorm’s technology into its platform, simplifying the catering-order process for grocery retailers.

With Rosie, Instacart will add offerings to its Instacart Platform specifically for smaller grocers, while helping them keep their independent identities, the company said.

“For nearly a decade, our team has lived, breathed and devoted ourselves to the success of local, independent grocers and I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve accomplished together,” Rosie’s founder and CEO Nick Nickitas said in a statement.

With the acquisition, Instacart said it now has the “most-comprehensive” suite of e-commerce tech offerings for grocers of all sizes.

Rosauers, which has more than 20 supermarkets in the Pacific Northwest, has used Rosie to create its online shopping platform.

“With the help of Rosie, we have an award-winning in-store experience and a highly customized, branded online shopping experience that enables everything from EBT-SNAP payment processing to digital merchandising,” Rosauers President and CEO Cliff Rigsbee said in a statement. “Instacart and Rosie together will be a winning combination for our business and our customers.”