Apoorva Mehta‘s path to becoming a billionaire was marked by determination and resilience, culminating in the success of Instacart, the online grocery delivery startup that recently went public with a market value of $8.8 billion.
As Instacart’s largest individual shareholder, Mehta’s net worth has soared to $1.1 billion following the sale of 700,000 shares of the company he co-founded in San Francisco in 2012. His career began at Amazon in logistics as a supply-chain engineer, but his desire to become an entrepreneur led him to quit his job and move to San Francisco without a clear plan.
Reflecting on his early struggles, Mehta recalled trying his hand at various startups from advertising for gaming companies to creating a social network for lawyers, all met with disappointment. It was a personal inconvenience, the lack of groceries, that sparked the idea for Instacart in 2012, as he observed a gap in the online delivery market that excluded groceries.
Instacart initially faced challenges, including a missed deadline to apply for Y Combinator, a prestigious startup accelerator. However, Mehta’s resourcefulness earned him a spot by personally delivering a six-pack of beer to Y Combinator’s headquarters using his fledgling app.
With Y Combinator’s support, Instacart secured $2.3 million in venture capital funding and rapidly expanded beyond San Francisco. Today, Instacart operates in over 14,000 cities across North America, partnering with major chains like Kroger and Costco to deliver groceries from more than 80,000 stores.
Before going public, Instacart reported delivering over 900 million orders containing 20 billion items, underscoring its significant impact on the online grocery market. Mehta stepped down as CEO in the previous year but remains a pivotal figure as the company’s executive chairman.
Apoorva Mehta’s journey from a determined engineer to a billionaire entrepreneur exemplifies perseverance and innovation in the tech startup world, cementing his legacy with Instacart’s transformative success in revolutionizing grocery shopping through digital convenience.