Instacart's Indian American Founder Apoorva Mehta Resigns

Indian American Founder Apoorva Mehta predicted the need for online grocery delivery service nearly a decade ago.

Apoorva Mehta, US-based Instacart Founder and Executive Charman.

(Photo: IANS)

United States-based Instacart, the online grocery delivery service, will undergo certain changes once it becomes a public company. One of these changes include the stepping down of its Indian American Founder and Executive Chairman, Apoorva Mehta.

CEO Fidji Simo has been appointed as the Chair of the Board of Directors as Mehta makes his way out of the board, according to a press release by Instacart.

Mehta founded Instacart about a decade ago and officially announced his decision to step down from Instacart's board on Friday, 22 July on Twitter.

"Since I transitioned from CEO to Executive Chairman a year ago, I realised that I want to pursue a new mission and I want to to do it with the same singular focus that I had while building Instacart. Stepping off the board will allow me to do just that."

Apoorva Mehta, Founder and Former Executive Chairman, Instacart.

According to a news report by IANS, Instacart has more than 800 national, regional, and local retail brands as its partners. These partners enable Instacart to provide online shopping, delivery, and pick-up services across North America with more than 70,000 stores catering to over 5,500 cities.

Under Mehta's leadership, Instacart became a transformational force in the grocery marketplace.

"Mehta's hard work and dedication brought Instacart into the homes of millions of customers."

Jeff Jordan, Instacart Board Member

Simo, who is a former Facebook executive, has taken over the role of Instacart's CEO, succeeding Mehta. He will also become the future executive chairman of the board.

Simo gave the credit to Mehta for predicting that grocery delivery was going to be a "core consumer need" more than 10 years before the culture of online grocery delivery became the norm.

"Mehta worked tirelessly with the team to create and build a successful model that allows consumers to access same-day delivery from their favourite grocers."

Fidji Simo, CEO, Instacart

(With inputs from IANS and India New England.)