On Thursday, Instacart revealed a reorganization at the top of its organization by naming a new CEO. Starting August 2, Facebook veteran Fidji Simo will take the reins at the grocery delivery platform, while current CEO Apoorva Mehta will transition to become the company’s Executive Chairman.
Mehta, who founded the online grocery business 10 years ago, plans to stay involved in his company’s day-to-day operations but will primarily focus on Instacart’s long-term vision and provide guidance on strategic moves.
In his announcement, Mehta commented that Simo’s experience at Facebook, especially from when it transitioned from a private company to a public tech giant, will be directly applicable as the company is expected to pursue an IPO later this year.
In a letter to Instacart’s community, he went on to say, “Fidji will simply be a better CEO than me for Instacart’s coming years. I won’t pretend that it was an easy decision. Instacart has been my life’s work. However, once I came to the conclusion that it would make for a better long-term future for our business, I knew that bringing Fidji on as CEO was the right path forward for the company.”
Simo has served on Instacart’s Board of Directors since January 2021 and joins from Facebook, where she most recently worked as the Head of the Facebook app. In this role, she was in charge of the social media giant’s core app and let the development of key features like News Feed, Stories, Groups, Video, Marketplace, Gaming, News, Dating, Ads, and more. Before her career at Facebook, she spent time at eBay as a member of the Strategy team.
Simo commented, “I fell in love with Instacart first as a customer, then as a Board member and now I’m honored to join the company as CEO and lead its next growth chapter."
The company is widely expected to go public this year and has spent the last few months making the necessary preparations, like recruiting IPO veterans to join its ranks. For instance, in March the company appointed Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman to its Board of Directors. Over the past three years, Slootman has led three companies as they made their public debuts on the stock market. Additionally, in January 2021, Instacart hired Nick Giovanni as CFO. Giovanni was formerly a Goldman Sachs investment banker and was involved in the IPOs of tech giants like Twitter, Dropbox, and eBay.
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