Instacart named Fidji Simo, one of the highest-ranking female Facebook executives as CEO

Instacart Inc. has appointed Fidji Simo, a tech giant veteran, as its new CEO, as the grocery delivery startup looks to expand its operations and go public.

Simo, 35, is the third-highest-ranking female executive at Facebook, after COO Sheryl Sandberg and Chief Business Officer Marne Levine. With Simo's departure, there will be a vacancy at the helm of Facebook's primary social network, a job that reports to Chief Product Officer Chris Cox and is aligned with the leaders of Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, CNBC stated.

Simo will take over for Instacart founder Apoorva Mehta on August 2. Mehta will become executive chairman of the board.

“I can’t think of a better leader to take the company public” and be at the helm, said Apoorva Mehta, co-founder and CEO of Instacart, WSJ reported.

As Covid-19 worries and limitations reordered the corporate sector in the U.S., San Francisco-based Instacart has been among the largest winners. The firm, which sends shoppers to supermarkets to pick up goods and deliver them to customers, grew as more people moved their shopping online during the pandemic.

Instacart also collaborates with manufacturers to provide discounts on its platform, and it develops websites and mobile applications for shops.

Simo became Instacart's first female board member earlier this year after Mehta reached out to her through cold email.

Simo has worked with Facebook since 2011 when she started as a product marketer. She was influential in the company's efforts to introduce more video content to the Facebook app, such as autoplay videos, live streaming, and the Facebook Watch video streaming platform.

According to Bloomberg Second Measure LLC, Instacart's market share of grocery delivery was in the mid 20% range before the pandemic and soared to as high as 54 % last year. Since then, it has dropped to 45 percent.

Last year, Instacart gained more than 200 retailers and currently delivers from over 600 businesses, it has secured roughly $700 million in additional financing, raising its worth to $39 billion.

With inputs from WSJ

Picture Credits: CNBC