Maplebear Q2 Earnings Call: Instacart Parent Sees 14% GTV Growth, AI and Advertising Momentum

Maplebear (NASDAQ: CART), the parent company of Instacart, said second-quarter growth in gross transaction value, revenue and adjusted EBITDA reflects accelerating momentum across its core marketplace, enterprise software and advertising businesses.

Gross transaction value rose 14% year over year to $10.35 billion in the period, helped by a 9% increase in orders to 90.3 million and a 4% gain in average order value to $115. Total revenue advanced 14% to $1.04 billion, while advertising and other revenue climbed 16% to $297 million.

CEO Chris Rogers described the business as performing “incredibly well” on the earnings call and noted that customer activations grew at the fastest year-over-year rate since 2022. He pointed to three consecutive quarters of accelerated growth.

Net income on a GAAP basis came in at $111 million, down 4% from the prior-year period. CFO Emily Reuter said the decline was tied mainly to higher stock-based compensation expense after the first quarterly vesting date for annual equity refresh grants shifted from August to May.

Adjusted EBITDA rose 19% to $313 million. Operating cash flow more than doubled to $493 million, and free cash flow jumped 156% to $480 million. Reuter said the cash-flow gains were driven in part by collection of a large accounts receivable balance during the quarter, plus higher receivables in the year-ago period.

Maplebear repurchased $325 million of stock in the quarter, leaving $998 million under its buyback authorization. The company ended the period with about $1 billion in cash and similar assets. Reuter said the company still expects to return the majority of free cash flow through share repurchases this year.

Rogers framed Instacart's data and fulfillment network as a durable advantage. The platform has handled more than 1.6 billion lifetime orders, lists more than 2 billion products and generates more than 10 million inventory signals each day, he said. Found rate and perfect order fill rate both improved for the 16th consecutive quarter.

The company is also pushing into more personalized shopping tools. During the quarter, Instacart began testing health tags and nutrition scores, and introduced a new replacement model that better accounts for dietary preferences such as gluten-free, low-sugar and allergen-free products.

On the technology front, Instacart acquired Arpalis in July, a computer-vision startup whose video-scanning technology maps store shelf availability. Rogers said the deal should improve fulfillment efficiency, sharpen inventory intelligence and support more relevant AI-powered shopping experiences.

The company plans to roll out its AI assistant across its North American marketplace in the coming weeks. Shoppers will be able to build orders personalized to their preferences, purchase history, nearby inventory and current promotions, with delivery in as fast as an hour. Rogers said orders placed through the assistant have been larger than the typical basket so far.

Instacart's enterprise business continued to expand. Its Storefront e-commerce platform now powers more than 380 grocery websites, and Storefront Pro added Calgary Co-op and Dierbergs as clients. Aldi's first-quarter U.S. launch on Storefront Pro is performing above expectations, Rogers said.

The company also highlighted growth in Caper smart carts, Foodstorm order-management technology and its suite of AI tools for retailers. Costco launched a Foodstorm-powered online ordering and delivery service for custom cakes and party platters nationwide, while Big Y signed on for a chain-wide rollout of online catering and in-store shelf-ordering kiosks.

Internationally, Instacart said Storefront Pro deployments with Costco in France and Spain are performing well. The company completed its acquisition of Instaleap in the second quarter, expanding its international reach and leading to a picking-technology partnership with Morrisons in the U.K.

Rogers said international retailers face many of the same challenges as North American grocers, including scaling e-commerce, fulfillment, recommendations, cart management and checkout. Rather than build highly customized products for each market, Instacart is taking an enterprise-first approach: deploying proven North American technology into new regions.

Advertising remained a standout. Advertising and other revenue grew faster than GTV, and Reuter said gains were broad-based across large, mid-market and emerging brands. Demand was especially strong late in the quarter around the World Cup, the company said.

Instacart also introduced AI-powered campaign and creative recommendations to all Ads Manager advertisers, began testing a Grow objective aimed at repeat purchases and expanded its Acquire objective into display advertising. It launched an Immersive Feed, a shoppable vertical-video format built around recipes and meal inspiration.

Rogers said the company is working with third-party AI platforms including Google Gemini, OpenAI and Anthropic. He described those integrations as early-stage, incremental demand channels rather than a near-term revenue driver.

For the third quarter, Instacart expects GTV of $10.3 billion to $10.55 billion, which implies 14% growth at the midpoint. It forecasts adjusted EBITDA of $320 million to $340 million, or 19% growth at the midpoint. Advertising and other revenue is expected to rise 15% to 18% year over year, again outpacing GTV growth.

Reuter said the company deliberately widened its guidance ranges to reflect its larger operating scale. Management's best estimate is the midpoint, but it now expects results to land within the full ranges.

Maplebear, which does business as Instacart, operates an online grocery and essentials marketplace connecting consumers, retail partners and personal shoppers. The service supports same-day or scheduled delivery and in-store pickup by integrating with retailers' inventory and point-of-sale systems. Founded in 2012 and based in San Francisco, Maplebear is a publicly traded company on NASDAQ under the ticker CART.

The second-quarter results reinforce the company's gradual shift from a delivery marketplace toward a broader technology provider for grocery retail. With e-commerce, fulfillment, in-store technology, retail media and AI now sold as a suite, the enterprise business can provide a more stable revenue base while advertising continues to drive profitability. The Q3 outlook suggests that mix shift is still in its early stages.