Maplebear Inc.

Q2 GTV was $10.35 billion, up 14% year over year, driven by 90.3 million orders, up 9%, and average order value of $115, up 4%. Total revenue increased 14% to $1.04 billion, with transaction revenue up 13% to $746 million and advertising and other revenue up 16% to $297 million. GAAP gross profit was $751 million, up 11%, GAAP net income was $111 million, down 4%, and Adjusted EBITDA was $313 million, up 19%; operating cash flow was $493 million and free cash flow was $480 million. For Q3 2026, Instacart guided to GTV of $10.3 billion to $10.55 billion, Adjusted EBITDA of $320 million to $340 million, and advertising and other revenue growth of 15% to 18% year over year. Management also said full-year Adjusted EBITDA should grow faster than GTV year over year, while moderating its pace of expansion as the company reinvests.

Chris Rogers framed the quarter as evidence that Instacart is gaining durable momentum across marketplace, enterprise, and ads. He emphasized better order quality, faster net-new customer growth since 2022, and ongoing investments in personalization, affordability, inventory intelligence, and AI shopping experiences. His tone was confident and expansive, repeatedly pointing to the company’s data advantage and saying Instacart is well positioned for durable profitable growth.

Emily Reuter underscored broad-based strength in the quarter and walked through the key drivers: 14% GTV growth to $10.35 billion, 13% growth in transaction revenue to $746 million, 16% growth in advertising and other revenue to $297 million, and 19% growth in Adjusted EBITDA to $313 million. She noted GAAP gross profit of $751 million and explained the margin pressure came from higher cost of revenue as payments to publishers scaled with Carrot Ads and off-platform partnerships, while operating expense ratios improved year over year. On capital allocation, she said Instacart repurchased $325 million of shares in Q2, ended with $998 million of remaining buyback capacity and $1 billion in cash and similar assets, and expects to return the majority of free cash flow via repurchases this year.

Analysts pressed on whether the 14% GTV growth signals a longer acceleration cycle; management said customer acquisition and engagement are improving because of better personalization, order quality, affordability, and AI, and reiterated confidence in Q3 guidance. Multiple questions focused on enterprise: management said retailer demand is being helped by rising digital competition, that enterprise deepens retailer relationships and lowers cost to serve, and that international expansion is still early but encouraging, with Storefront Pro and Instaleap showing promise. Questions about the AI assistant, Gemini, and ads monetization drew responses that these are early demand-generation channels, with management saying AI should improve conversion, retention, basket size, and frequency over time, while ad products are being layered into the assistant experience gradually.