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Today, Instacart is bringing its exclusive one-hour grocery delivery service to Denver. Customers can now virtually shop their neighborhood King Soopers and Costco stores from anywhere, and items will be delivered in as little as 60 minutes. In coming weeks, more stores will be added to Instacart’s roster.
Instacart got its start in San Francisco, but has quickly moved into 10 other major metropolitan areas. Utilizing “Personal Shoppers” – a crowdsourced labor force – Instacart takes the hassle out of an everyday task. Instacart’s Personal Shoppers not only pick products out for customers, but they also use their own transportation to ensure delivery within an hour.
The move into Denver comes on the heels of Instacart’s $44 million Series B round last week, which was led by Andreessen Horowitz. The investment will be used to continue Instacart’s expansion; Denver is the first of seven cities that will be seeing Instacart in 2014.
“We chose Denver as an expansion city due to its young, tech-oriented population with busy lifestyles,” said founder Apoova Mehta. “Instacart has been extremely successful in young cities with blooming startup scenes, and Denver fits the mold entirely. We are very excited to give people in Denver access to healthy groceries on demand.”
Instacart can be accessed online or via a mobile app. After inputting location, grocery order, and a delivery window – a feature allows you to make orders instantly or set one for a later date and time (hello, party planning during work hours!) – users can check out and pay for groceries. Instantly an Instacart Personal Shopper receives the order and executes. A two-hour window is $3.99, while one-hour delivery runs at $14.99. New customers can begin their shopping online and receive free delivery on their first order of $35 or more.
Also in the works for Instacart is Instacart Express, an Amazon-Prime-esque service for annual member. Delivery fees are eliminated on all orders over $35, and the annual price is $99. Like Amazon-Prime, users can get a free two-week trial.
Promo code: BIC2014 for $10 off and first delivery free
