Instacart’s Q4 results impressed. Are they good enough to push it toward an IPO?

The best-known unicorns in the world are getting fit, showing that it is possible to trim losses while still posting growth. They are living experiments when it comes to corporations looking to get lean without cutting muscle.

European fintech giant Klarna is working through a valuation reset and a change in investor priority ahead of an eventual public offering. It’s not the only private tech company adjusting its valuation and working to scale its revenue and profitability to meet the new valuation reality the startup world is still digesting.

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Here in the United States, Instacart is undergoing a similar reforging. Much like Klarna, Instacart soared amid the pandemic, watching its valuation explode as it caught a business updraft during COVID-triggered economic upheaval. And, like Klarna, it has had to slash its valuation and clip staffing so that it can, at last, go public.

Earlier this week, we dug into Klarna’s 2022 results, paying special attention to its Q4 data; the company’s full-year results obfuscated the fact that Klarna made material progress toward profitability as the end of the year neared. That mattered more than its historical losses from earlier in the year.