On Friday, Instacart officially appointed Ravi Gupta, the former Chief Financial and Operating Officer, to its board of directors, solidifying the decision following the company’s recent initial public offering in the same week.
“There are new growth areas — Connected Stores, Instacart Health, AI — entire plethora of ways that the company’s going to innovate,” Gupta said in an interview ahead of the announcement. “Just being able to be around for that and provide opinions and weigh in on that is such a gift.”
Having served at the company for a four-year stint, Gupta departed in 2019 to take on a role as a partner at Sequoia Capital. It’s worth noting that Sequoia Capital holds the largest institutional stake in Instacart, owning 18.5% of the company, as indicated in the company’s filings.
Trading under the name Maplebear Inc., Instacart experienced an impressive 43% surge during its debut on Tuesday, only to witness a gradual decline over the course of the week. This downturn may reflect some investor caution regarding the company’s business model and a broader market downturn. Ultimately, by the close of trading on Thursday, Instacart settled at $30.65, just 2.2% above its initial listing price of $30.
Gupta was featured as a director nominee in the company’s prospectus. He held the position of CFO from 2015 to 2019 and also took on the role of COO from 2016 until he left. Throughout his tenure at Instacart, the company established significant delivery partnerships with prominent grocery retailers such as Albertsons Cos., Kroger Co., ALDI, and Publix.
These partnerships strategically positioned Instacart to contend with competitors such as DoorDash Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods Market in 2017 introduced a formidable new player in the grocery delivery arena. Furthermore, these supermarket agreements played a crucial role in preparing the company for exponential growth during the pandemic, as locked-down consumers increasingly relied on Instacart to access essential food items.
Within Sequoia, Gupta’s primary investment areas include consumer, mobile, internet, and fintech sectors. The firm’s website lists him as a director at Acelerate, a restaurant tech firm, and Noom Inc., a weight-loss app company. Prior to his tenure at Instacart, he dedicated a decade to KKR & Co., where he held a senior leadership role focused on the development of the firm’s infrastructure investment platform.