Street Fight Daily: Instacart Amasses $3.4 Billion Valuation, Uber Seeks COO

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…

Grocery-Delivery Startup Instacart is Valued at $3.4 Billion (WSJ)
Instacart has added $300 million to $400 million to its coffers in a new funding round that values the grocery delivery company at about $3.4 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. Sequoia Capital invested more than $100 million in the round.

Google’s Pragmatic Approach to the Truth, and Its Pitfalls (Street Fight)
Damian Rollison: If enough people believe something, should Google consider it to be true? In a world where questionable news is very popular, it’s not so surprising that Google’s logical assumptions might sometimes produce unexpected results. After all, trustworthiness at root is a matter of how many people are willing to trust you.

Travis Kalanick Wants a No. 2 Executive (NYT)
Travis Kalanick, chief executive of Uber, is seeking a No. 2 executive to lend him a hand after a bumpy start to his year. Mr. Kalanick issued a one-sentence statement on Tuesday saying, “We’re actively looking for a Chief Operating Officer: a peer who can partner with me to write the next chapter in our journey.” Quartz: Uber is looking for its Sheryl Sandberg.

NinthDecimal Decouples Its Data, Expands Partnerships, and Moves Into the Black (Street Fight)
The location data company announced this morning that it has crossed the line into profitability and CEO Michael Fordyce believes NinthDecimal has found an approach that will help it scale up in a big way. Fordyce and chief revenue officer Brian Slitt spoke with Street Fight recently about the need to measure and understand audiences across a myriad of media and channels.

Boston-Based Localytics, a Mobile Engagement Platform, Acquires Berlin’s Tapglue (TechCrunch)
Localytics has acquired Berlin’s Tapglue, which offered mobile app developers an API and backend service to enable them to easily add social features to their apps. The purchase sees Localytics open a new Berlin office to be led by the Tapglue team.

Two-Thirds of Marketers Expanded Programmatic Campaigns to Mobile Devices in 2016 (MediaPost)
Programmatic advertising is becoming de rigueur for a majority of marketers, according a new report. In fact, 80% of those surveyed are “familiar” or “extremely familiar” with programmatic advertising, and 66% of marketers report that programmatic advertising resulted in greater ROI versus traditional media buying.

The Guardian is Getting 60% of its Google Mobile Traffic from AMP (Digiday)
Many publishers have scrambled to adopt AMP, Google’s answer to Facebook Instant Articles. As the Guardian’s experience shows, Accelerated Mobile Pages can be a success if publishers put the work in.

Users Can Now Place Geotagged Stickers on Instagram Stories (AdWeek)
The company is rolling out geotagged stickers for Instagram Stories. The feature allows users of the platform’s more ephemeral format to post location-based stickers highlighting neighborhoods and landmarks in certain areas within each city.

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Joe Zappa is the Managing Editor of Street Fight. He has spearheaded the newsroom's editorial operations since 2018. Joe is an ad/martech veteran who has covered the space since 2015. You can contact him at [email protected]