Apoorva Mehta

Indo-Canadian billionaire businessman and founder of Instacart

Apoorva Mehta is an Indo-Canadian entrepreneur best known as the founder and former CEO of Instacart, a leading online grocery delivery service. Born in 1986 in Jodhpur, India, Mehta moved to Libya shortly after birth and later relocated to Canada in 2000. He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo.1 2

Early Career

Before founding Instacart, Mehta worked as a design engineer at Blackberry and Qualcomm for a brief period. He then joined Amazon in 2008 as a supply chain engineer, where he gained valuable experience that would inform his future entrepreneurial endeavors. In 2010, he decided to pursue entrepreneurship, launching around 20 startups over two years, most of which did not succeed.2 3 4

Founding Instacart

Mehta founded Instacart in 2012 at the age of 26, inspired by his personal experiences with grocery shopping in Canada. He aimed to create a service that would allow customers to order groceries online and have them delivered the same day. Instacart quickly gained traction, and with the help of Y Combinator, it raised $2.3 million in initial funding. The company transformed the grocery industry by partnering with local grocers and offering a convenient delivery service.1 2 3

Leadership and Recent Developments

Mehta served as CEO of Instacart until July 2021, when he transitioned to the role of executive chairman. He stepped down from the board in September 2023 but retains a significant ownership stake in the company, which went public in September 2023.2 4 5 Following his departure from Instacart, Mehta founded Cloud Health Systems, a health tech startup focused on medical consulting, which has already raised substantial funding.2 4

Recognition and Impact

Under Mehta's leadership, Instacart became a billion-dollar company and significantly impacted the way consumers shop for groceries. His journey from launching numerous failed startups to building a successful enterprise has been widely recognized, earning him a place on Forbes' 30 Under 30 list in 2013 and Time's 100 Next list in 2021.2 3 4