Just seven months after joining the board of directors of the grocery distribution company, Instact has appointed Facebook executive Fidji Simo as its new CEO. Apurba Mehta, Simo, former vice president and head of the Facebook app, founder and current chief executive of Instagram, will replace Mehta on August 2 to replace Mehta as executive chairman of the board, according to a statement from InstaCart. Instact declined to request further comment. The women of color chief executives at the forefront of the billion-dollar business are still unfortunately rare. Simo is the co-founder of Hall of In Products, a non-profit organization that works to empower women in product management as well as advance and advocate for women’s careers in tech.
This transformation marks the fact that Facebook has lost one of its few female leaders and InstaChart has a new strength as it plans to increase its head count by 50% in 2021. Mehta’s departure from his role from the expected IPO is so significant because it is rare. Founded by Mehta 10 years ago, Instacart inspired a recent valuation of $39 billion through its 2012 summer batch of Y Combinator.
The epidemic was spotlighted on Instagram, as millions of people around the world experienced isolation and limited-personal communication as they traveled to grocery stores. Increased customer spending on delivery services enabled InstaChart to employ millions of employees, as well as launch same-day deliveries on a variety of products outside of Avocado, including electronics, sports equipment and prescription drugs. Growth does not come without debate. Instact, Uber, Laft, Dordash and PostMates have joined as the main backers of Proposition 22, a move that would classify Gig employees as individual contractors and limit the kind of benefits they could receive.
Prop 22 has passed to the end, which can be seen as beneficial for Instagram executives and detrimental to distributive buyers. The incident happened years after the protests, after class-action lawsuits over wages and tipping duplicates were filed where InstaCart investigated for its unfair treatment of buyers.
