Startups

Instacart: on-demand grocery shopping app launches in Philly

Headquartered in San Francisco, the app is kind of like a Sidecar for grocery shopping. Users use the app the choose groceries and a contract-based "personal shopper" picks up the job and delivers the groceries with their own vehicles.

Instacart, an on-demand grocery shopping app, has launched in Philadelphia.

Headquartered in San Francisco, the app is kind of like a Sidecar for grocery shopping. Users use the app to choose groceries and a contract-based “personal shopper” picks up the job and delivers the groceries with their own vehicles.

Aside from San Francisco, Instacart is already in Washington, D.C., Chicago and Boston, according to a release.

The company is currently looking for an office in Southwest Center City (possibly tech hub 2401 Walnut Street and its CityCoHo incubator?) where two to four full-time employees will work, according to a spokeswman. Currently, the launch team is working out of Old City coworking space Indy Hall.

Here’s a map of Instacart’s service area. It’ll expand in the coming months, according to a release.

Why Philly? Here are four reasons, as provided by Instacart through a spokeswoman:

  • Demographics: young, growing population with a vibrant downtown
  • Size. Philly is the second largest city on the East Coast
  • Weather. “Instacart has found in other cities that order volume grows when it rains or snows, so they like cities where it rains/snows a lot,” the spokeswoman wrote in an email.
  • Some downtown neighborhoods don’t have good proximity to grocery stores (Think Center City’s Trader Joe’s becoming a claustrophobic’s nightmare every evening)

The Philly region also has online grocers like FreshDirect and Peapod. Unlike Instacart, those businesses use warehouses, full-time drivers and trucks.

Full Disclosure: Instacart was one of the exhibitors at Technical.ly Philly's tech jobs fair NET/WORK.
Companies: Instacart

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

3 ways to support our work:
  • Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
  • Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
  • Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
The journalism fund Preferred partners Our services
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

16 places to responsibly dispose of old electronics in Philadelphia

An interactive timeline of Philly’s tech ecosystem in 2024

How 5 orgs help local businesses achieve success

Expect high-speed internet at 100 Philly rec centers in 2025, Verizon says

Technically Media